Doe Castle History - Bibliography

Compiled by Diarmuid Mee, Carrigart, Co. Donegal for a talk given to the Mevagh Ramblers at Doe Castle on June 2nd, 2014.

Local History

  • Doe Castle. Creeslough, Co. Donegal - A Visitor’s Guide. Kevin Ward. To learn about Doe Castle, start here.
  • Mevagh Down the Years. Leslie W Lucas. Appletree Press. 1983. Deceptively simple and accessible. A product of painstaking scholarship and profound local knowledge. A lasting gem.
  • Donegal History & Society. Nolan W, Ronayne L, Dunlevy, M. Geography Publications 1995.
  • An Historical, Environmental and Cultural Atlas of County Donegal. McLaughlin J, Beattie S. Cork University Press. 2013. Chapters 15-19, 58. An excellent Christmas present.
  • Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. Brian Lacy. Cahill Printers. 1983. Like a tropical rainforest, rich but impenetrable! Archive held in County Museum, Letterkenny.

 

Contemporary Accounts

  • Docwra’s Derry. A Narration of Events in North-west Ulster 1600-04. William Kelly (Ed). Ulster Historical Foundation. 2003. Vivid eye-witness account of events in North West Ulster 1600-04,written by a significant participant.
  • Edmund Spenser. A View of the Present State of Ireland. W.L. Renwick (Ed). Oxford University Press. 1970.
  • The Annals of the Four Masters.
    • The Annals of the Four Masters. Irish History, Kingship and Society in the early seventeenth century. Bernadette Cunningham. Four Courts Press. 2010.
    • Annals of The Kingdom of Ireland. By The Four Masters. John O’Donovan. 

Modern References

  • The Great O’Neill. Sean O’Faolain. Longmans, Green & Company. 1942.
  • The Birth of Ulster. Cyril Falls. Methuen. 1936.
    • These two books were written in the middle of the twentieth century by literary figures from what were then opposing traditions and their work reflects their contrasting points of view.
  • Elizabeth and Essex. Lytton Strachey. Chatto & Windus. 1928. Pages 209-210 illustrate Hugh O’Neill’s wiliness and why his enemies feared him.

Illustrations

(Pending upload of images)

The MacSweeney Chieftain Feasting out of doors. John Derricke’s Image of Ireland. 1581.

 

From a map of Ireland 1567, Mac Sweeney Doe wearing the MacSweeney crested helmet and both he and MacSweeney Fanad carrying galloglass battleaxes. (Also see McLaughlin J, Beattie S. 2013, page 145).

 

Brought to Killybegs from St. John’s Point in 1868. Traditionally connected with MacSweeneys. Plumed helmet, battle axe and sword. (Brian Lacy. 1983. P 330.)