View from the northwest

northwest-view (6).jpg

Title

View from the northwest

Description

In Spenser's day, the castle would have been taller, and a bawn wall enclosing the castle yard would have stood between the viewer and the castle. The Ballyhoura mountain range can barely be seen in the distance.

Spenser's residence in the castle may have begun as early as 1586-7 and was finished when fighting from the Nine Years' War (1594-1603) swept south and sacked the Munster plantation (and Kilcolman with it) in October, 1598. Spenser died a refugee in London early 1599. Legend has it that Spenser lost a child in the fire and also that the second half of his epic, The Faerie Queene, was lost in the displacement. Burn marks on the walls from the sacking of Kilcolman have been found, as well as burn marks from a fire a generation later, when the castle was occupied by Spenser's son, Sylvanus.

Citation

“View from the northwest,” Collections @ ECU, accessed November 23, 2024, http://collections.ecu.edu/items/show/930.

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