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This Tower House was built by the De Angulo Clan circa 1100, part of a much bigger double Tower Structure that allowed boats to moor almost to the edge of the Castle, or Pele/ Tower House.
The invasion of Ireland 1169 was from this area, and the De Angulo clan, Gilbert De Angulo, Lord of the Angle, and his Son Jocelyn, were among the Knights awarded property in Meath by Hugh De Lacy for services rendered to King Henry 2.
The De Angulo were called Aristocratic mercenaries by Dudley Edwards, Historian. The Mirehouse Family eventually owned most of Angle by 1850’s, and Mary Beatrice Mirehouse’s History records most of this info. Subsequent records from pipe rolls, Tower of London, manga carts docs, King John and Edward 3rolls, Sweetmans Calder, etc etc confirm this families position in the invasion, their lands granted and confi rmed, and their unique history in Ireland.
On the Internet Archive site,the book “ South Pembrokeshire, some of its history and records,” by Mary Mirehouse and other researchers and historians she quotes, Owen from the 1500’s among them, shows the history of this area,and the role it played in the Invasion of a Ireland, that has been rarely mentioned at all.
The De Angulo witnessed some of the first grants in Ireland after the invasion, 1172 Howth granted to the St Lawrence family the first one, and many more besides. In fact the De Angulo became the Oistelbh, then Mac Oistelbh, meaning sons of Joceline, then MacGoisdealbh in Irish, eventually MacCostelloe in Mayo. Jocelyn was Baron Navan, his name evolved to Nangle, and another brother, Richard, started the Nagle clan in Moinaminy in Mallow Cork Blackwater River Valley area.
The brother of Jocelyn, Gilbert , became MacOistelbh, they were the first Cambro Norman’s to adopt a Mac prefix, and not Fitz as the other Welsh Norman’s did.
They were called Hibernis Ipso Hiberni ie more Irish than the Irish, Gilbert de Angulo was in the service of Cathal Crovderg by 1195, and went Native and was Crovderg O Conor’s Military Condotierre. All this recorded in the Irish Annals , Loch Ce and Four Masters especially.
Crovderg granted Gilbert land in Maenmagh, in East Galway, Rathgorgin was his first castle in Galway, and he was the first Norman settler in Connacht. He was also a contemporary and friend of the great John De Courcy, and William Marshall, who is buried in the Templar’s Church in London City.
The invasion of Ireland , lead by Gilbert De Clare, or Strongbow as history calls him, was wholly a South Wales adventure, and Strongbow himself was witness with William De Angulo and Gilbert Snr, also in 1172 in the Ormond Deed number two, a grant of a land in Tullow, Louth, to William De Angulo , for services rendered.
The Geraldine clan were also contemporaries, all South Welsh clans,all Marcher Lords, The Fitzstephens, FitzHenrys,Fitzgerald’s, de Barris, De Cogan, all from St David’s in Pembrokeshire, and almost all descended from Nesta, wife of King Henry, mistress of Stephen, Gerald and De Barry, with children and grandchildren all her descendants. She is regarded as the Helen of Wales, but is much more than that, perhaps the greatest Woman in British and Irish history.
The Tower house or Pele Tower in Angle is the model for the many castles this family built in Ireland, the similarities are obvious, and especially another structure that the Cambro Normans favored and brought to Ireland,but that is my trump card of proof, so I will hold that card for last trick( I love playing Euchre).
Jocelyn de Angulo, or Nangle, and the Barons Navan, existed until 1790’s, the last Baron Francis a General o I the Austrian Army. And the town of Navan, that they created, is still there of course, and the Monastery of St Marys, like St Mary’s in Angle, Ruins are still there. Gilbert de Angulo, who became MacGoisdealbh, and his son Philip, then Miles, became Lords of Slieve Lugha, built many Castles like the Pele Tower in Connacht, Castlemore Costello their head quarters, Athanchip, Rathnaguppaun,Kilmore, and many other in the area eventually called Costello Barony, a political district till this day. The secret to their success was modern military techniques learned in Crusades and Europe ,fealty and Honour to their liege Lords without question, intermarriage with Irish and other Norman clans, eventually having De Lacy, Burke, OReilly and ONeil cousins and in laws.
In Fact their liege Lord was King Richard Lionheart and when King John tried to usurp HIs brothers Rule , the De Angulo stayed loyal to Richard , while he was captive in Europe, this is when they were outlawed by Hamo de Valoignes, justiciary of Ireland 1194 1195, and “went Rogue” as some modern current historians , who know little if anything about this clan , maintain . Gilbert” preferred the wild ways of the west of Ireland,” eventually being killed in Cael Uisce Castle ,that he built in 1210 for Phillip De Gray, the Bishop of Ireland then, in Ballyshannon in Sligo.
Same events unfolded in Moinamany, in Mallow Cork, Blackwater River Area, monasteries and Castles in the same style,inter marriages, even Bunratty Castle the same style as the Pele Tower , and in this area the Nagles were Lords, Edmund Spencer’s son married a Nagle, Nagle Mountains there as well, Richard Nagle was King James 2 Right hand man while in Exile in France, loyalty above all in spite of losing all, and the very famous Nano Nagle , who founded a famous religious order and school of Nuns.
An amazing family and clan from a small area of Wales, that had quite a role in Irish History, and is highly overlooked. I have suspicions as to why, and will elaborate further, but mostly the history of this family was recorded by their adversaries, MacDermots in Four Masters, Reynolds and OGaras oHaras , where this clan is mentioned over 70 times, and eventually the Anglo Irish Ascendency, Cotton, Carew, Dillon, who changed their religion to keep their place and titles in society , and keep their land holdings, while the De Angulo clan never ever changed their faith,, never took the aloofness, Justiciary of Ireland 1194soup as they say, rebelled against these changes and paid the price that that entails.
See Dudley MacGoisdealbh, the Scourge of Old Mayo for example.
No more will Balyra woods hear thru it’s forest and glade, the echo of the Colonels voice or fear his Toledo blade From Nobel Erne to Royal Mask. With a Nangle he roamed wide, To rob the rich, help the poor, and stem the crimson tide. So ride on bold swordsman, though no stone marks your grave, for on the gibbet you were hung, spiked by An Ormond Knave But tonight round ruined Castlemore, a Connacht wind will blow, to Praise the name of the man they called, The Scourge of Old Mayo. Go raibh mile Maith agat
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