Few castles in Ireland possess as majestic a defensive setting as that of Dunamase, a medieval stone fortress in Co Laois, about four miles outside Portlaoise. The fact that it stands high over the countryside in complete ruins does not detract from its rugged grandeur. Its decay enhances its allure. Dunamase is about as forceful a statement as could be made on the nature of power as something that endures but is also lost. Even in collapse, Dunamase on its limestone outcrop remains a romantic place, an extensive mosaic of stone walls and fragmented buildings dominated by the remains of a great central citadel at the rock's summit.
Whether at the height of a summer's day or at winter's dusk, viewed from the road below or from the elegant nearby 19th-century church, or at the site itself, Dunamase explains much about Ireland's warring past. A series of banks and ditches, an outer bailey, alert the visitor to its defensive nature. Approached through an outer barbican gate house and twin-towered inner gateway entrance, it initially opens into a triangular lower ward which leads to the massive keep.
Only birds live here now. They tend to gather on the heavily ivied sills of gaunt windows added during the 15th century. Known to have once hosted an ancient Irish native fort, dating from at least the Early Christian period, the rock's strategic position has always been obvious. Dunamase is believed to have been plundered by the Vikings about 845.
Centuries later, with the arrival of the Normans, it was given by Diarmaid MacMurrough to Strongbow as part of his daughter Aoife's dowry. In time, Strongbow's son-in-law, William Marshal, constructed a motte and bailey castle on an earlier fortress built by Meiler FitzHenry. Marshal's castle would be rebuilt and enlarged, in about 1250, by his son-in-law, William de Braose. Within 30 years, it had become a solid Anglo-Norman manor. About 200 more years would pass before the Irish, through the local chieftains, the O'Mores, won it back, making it their stronghold. But the political tug o' war continued.
Dunamase changed hands again and again during the Civil War. In 1650 it was taken by Cromwellian generals Hewson and Reynolds who blew it up, thus rendering it useless. In the 18th century, it was partially restored as a residence by Sir John Parnell, but his son had no interest in it, allowing it to settle into what has been a long process of decline - culminating in its present state. There does exist a glimpse of it at an earlier time: Gabriel Beranger, the Huguenot artist drew Dunamase about 1785, by then a ruin albeit far more substantial than it is today.
Excavations carried out on the Rock of Dunamase by the then OPW (now Duchas, the Heritage Service) in 1993 and 1994 confirmed the various stages of habitation and layers of history associated with the site. A number of human skulls were found. Examination revealed they were severed heads that may well have once adorned the battlements. Arrowheads and medieval coins as well as locks and keys were found. Digs also unearthed a large collection of medieval pottery dated from the late 12th to 14th centuries. Among the most dramatic structural finds was the uncovering of the great thick-walled hallkeep (as distinct from hall because of the thickness of the walls) dated to the later 12th century.
The excavations have proved exciting for the wealth of new insights, but there are no plans to attempt a restoration or rebuilding. Duchas has confirmed its policy towards Dunamase is one of conservation, not restoration. Walls are to be stabilised in order to prevent further collapse. It is a shrewd decision. Any rebuilding of this most beautiful of places could at best hope for a pastiche resurrection of what must have been, and still is, a magnificent and intimidating sight.
