Trillick Castle (Mervyn Castle)

Trillick Castle, County Tyrone
Photo © Kenneth Allen, 14 February 2006

It is located at Castle Mervyn Demesne, a mile to the north of Trillick, not much remains of this ancient relic, except the chimney wall.

Trillick Trí Leac (in Irish) “three stones”, is another term for a chambered tomb. The village is named from a ruined example beside Trillick Castle.

The name is referred to in early records as Trelic and Trelic Mor, (and Mor or great/grand we always were), taking that name from the three pillars or standing stones located at what was the original Trelic and now generally referred to as the Old Castle.

Remarkably the name of Trillick has been preserved through 4,000 years of history. Records show that the Celts had a major base here and, on being converted to Christianity, had established an Abbey at Trelic Mor by 613 A.D. Various records refer to St. Mobec of Trelic, whose commemoration or feast day is on 29 May. The Annals of the Four Masters record the death of Cinead Ó Ceallaigh, Bishop of Trelic, in 813 A.D. The O’Neills of Shane the Proud clan had a strong fort here, with their soldiers based at nearby Dernagilly. The fought the famous battle of Dreigh Hill in 1379 against the Maguires and won a victory which settled the Tyrone/Fermanagh county boundary here. The Annals record the death in 1526 of Henry O’Neill, Lord of the Braghaid, the name given to the territory ruled by the O’Neills from Old Trielic. Henry’s memorial stone, which lies at the bottom of Wood Hill, shows the name H. O’Neill and three shamrocks encircled in a fort. Henry was a grandson of Shane the Proud and his grandson Con, who died in 1723, has an impressive headstone in the old Kilskeery graveyard. The Civil Survey of 1654 says that the remains of a village, church, burial ground and mill could still be seen at Old Trelic but, by then, the new town of Trillick had been built.

After the Flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly on 4 September 1607, and the division of their escheated lands, the O’Neill territory here was given the description of the Manor of Stowy and alloted to Sir Mervyn Tuchet in 1611. He passed them on to his cousin, Sir Henry Mervyn of Hampshire, who in turn passed them on to his son, Captain James Mervyn. He arrived here around 1620, began building a castle which was completed in 1628 and the new town of Trillick was completed in the 1630s. A court was established, a weekly market and a fair on 3 May. The castle was described as one of the best of its kind and was occupied up until the 1800s, being vacant in 1814. It had then passed to General Mervyn Archdale, who built the hunting lodge at Glengeen. The Mervyns were noted parliamentarians, holding the Tyrone seat in Parliament from 1639 to 1747 and Captain Audley Mervyn being Speaker of the Irish Parliament from 1661 to 1666.

Our new town lost no time in writing its name into history. Being on the direct route from Dublin to Derry and within striking distance of the strong Enniskilling base at Enniskillen, Trillick became an important post during the Jacobite wars. From 1629, the planters were being trained in the use of firearms by Charles Bastard of Drumdran, while the natives, including reparees and members of the O’Neill clan on the run, were being trained by agents of Phelim O’Neill of Caledon. In 1641 O’Neill had garrisons at Golan and Liffer, while the planters had garrisons at Castle and Corkhill. Both sides had victories over the other here in 1641 an both sides were strengthened in 1642, when General Munroe arrived to bolster the royalist forces and Owen Roe O’Neill came to lead the Irish insurrection. Our town would have been a hot place in those years and in 1689 the Jacobite garrison here was for a time under the command of King James’ son, the Duke of Berwick. After lifting the siege of Derry, King William’s army billeted at Trillick on its way back to Enniskillen in August, 1689, a blacksmith in William’s army, who died here, being buried in Magheracross graveyard.