J111Jit11J •iC\'\' UI l L Wlt1.1 ;j: Wil~ s w01·e hls native dre5s, and it is .~aid, slept fully armed, each night, en a mat outside his master's door. The general met with a sad death by falling down the stairway leading to the tower. And his Indian valet died shortly afterwards - of broken heart, it is said, so devoted was he_to his ma-"ter. The Jlartes remained in possession_ of Doe C.istle until 1866, though the Maddisons wei'e in permanent occupation up to that time---more or less as ca::-etake::-s of this historic habitation. Then, or soon afterwards, it was sold to A. J. R. Stewart of Ards, a neigHbouring landlord (who!!e house at Ards is now, since 1930 or therea•bouts, a Capuchin Friary. Doe Casee was rented by Mr. Stewa~·t to tile Rev. Mr. Murphy, then: Episcopalian minister of ~'1-eevagh (Ros5guill), on the opposi;:e ·de of Sheephaven Bay. This gentleman, known loca'.Jy a.:; Ari '.\Iinistear Ban (heing fair hai:ed). held the Castle and adjoining lands until the Land Act of 1880. .!(ranting tenant right, was passed. Mr. Murphy claimed that. as he was paying rent at the pas;;ing of tbe Act, he, too, was entitled to .the fll'ivileges acc·ruing therefrom. Prolonged litigation followed, until finally, arnund the early nineties, a decisi<.m was iziven in favour of the Stewarts. During the intervening years, ~ Gideon MoorE (caretaker for the Rev. Mr. Murphy) lookoed after tbe estate. nOE CAt!l'LE :.-;lX'l'Y n ;AltS AGO-AND NiOW'! Our kindly informant, .\Ir. Andrew Macintyre, recalls that about 1893 or '94, i.e., sixty ye::?rs ago. he gai!"!ed access to the Castle- and "explo"·ed from rccm to room for the best part of a summer day." It was quite intact at that time. Not a b:·oken pane. And many old books and documents ·lay about. Some receipts picked up at random dated back to 1847. and were for Relief Grant:. made in the year of tl:e famine (''Bliadhan A' Drock-Shaoghail" as the old people used to call it). In 1893 there were tables, presses and cha"irs in most ot the rooms, with one or two oldfa-'hioned wooden - bedsteads. During the end of the last c~~ tury and the J~ eginning of tm.s enlighte::!.ed age, Doe Castle .su!- fered greatly from vandalism. The black oal' wainscotting was 5tdpped off the inside walls, - some of it to make pig trough~ or stable-centres Slates were taken away, and more recently ~he flat roof o_f the circular portion of ti:.e buil·din!! was denuded of its lead flocring. This wa~ done bv some travelling tinkers less than twenty years ago, hut the ruffians were exonec·ated on some le~al technicalities. ·And so Doe Castle (that saw Sir O'Doherty's ''Far fierce hour" of glory, and later welccmed home from ·spa'in the great Owen Roe O'Neill) is now . a roofless ruin. Half a century ago a habita~Jle home. Now a ~hambles. We 1111ild for the for-
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