A lost town in the Wicklow Mountains
Irish History Podcast
Fin Dwyer
4.7 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 23 November 2022
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Castlekevin was once a thriving settlement deep in the Wicklow Mountains. However in the 14th century after decades of warfare the historical record fell silent.
Over the past year the Roundwood & District Historical & Folklore Society have been working with a team of archaeologists to uncover the story of this lost town and castle. Using ground penetrating radar, drones and ecological surveys the team have started to unlock the lost story of this forgotten town.
This podcast reveals what was found...
A special word of thanks to:
Roundwood & District Historical & Folklore Society, the National Monuments Service Community Monuments fund, Yvonne Whitty, Dr Paul Naessens, Faith Wilson, Ivor Kenny, Dr Ger Dowling, Wicklow Co Council Heritage Officer Deirdre Burns, Martin Timmons, Mary Rochford, Chris Corlett and Catherine Wright in Wicklow Archives .
Additional narrations from Aidan Crowe
Sound by Kate Dunlea
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, just a quick heads up before you dive into the episode. |
| 0:03.6 | My new book, Alita Legacy, a history of Ireland in 18 murders is coming out on September |
| 0:08.4 | the 14th. |
| 0:09.5 | You can still pre-order your copy today, or if you're going to be in Dublin next week, |
| 0:13.8 | it will be great to see you at the launch. |
| 0:15.8 | It's on at 6pm on Thursday, September the 14th in Hodges figures. |
| 0:20.8 | That's 6pm on September the 14th in Hodges figures on Dawson Street in the city center. |
| 0:26.2 | Swing in on your way home from work, it'll be a great event. |
| 0:28.8 | Sure I'll see you there. |
| 0:46.0 | In the National Archives in Dublin, there's a haunting, 700-year-old letter, |
| 0:50.6 | written by a Norman Settler in Wicklow. |
| 0:53.3 | The author of the letter was a man called Hugh Lawless, |
| 0:56.7 | and he wrote to the Norman authorities in Dublin in 1316, begging for help. |
| 1:03.1 | These are his words, |
| 1:26.9 | in this letter, Hugh Lawless was giving voice to the fears of all Norman Settlers in Wicklow. |
| 1:44.5 | Their world was in a state of collapse. |
| 1:47.5 | As the letter spelled out, settlement after settlement was being overrun by the native |
| 1:52.2 | Gaelic Irish. |
| 1:54.3 | The sum would be recaptured, and the Normans would, in the end, manage to hang on. |
| 2:00.0 | Deeper in the Wicklow Mountains away from the coast, the situation was very different. |
| 2:05.6 | One of the major Norman settlements in Wicklow, a place called Castle Kevin, was lost, |
| 2:11.0 | and over the following decades would be completely abandoned. |
... |
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