Lemaneagh Castle, a beautiful mansion that stands naked but, now abandoned on the road between Inchiquin and Kilfenora, County Clare, is tied to the legend of Mary O'Brien in MacMahon, known as "Red Mary".
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| Lemaneagh Castle, Co. Clare |
An inscription on an ancient portal to honor the memory of Conor O'Brien and his wife, Mary MacMahon precisely. Unfortunately today, the portal has been dismantled and rebuilt in a modern garden of Dromoland. Conor O'Brien built the portal to block the road to the inhabitants of the Burren, so that no one was able to enter or leave the region without his permission or that of his wife. Exasperated by this latest abuse of power, a local gentleman, a band of armed peasants and stormed the gate, forcing it and forcing O'Brien to grant easements seeker free passage to anyone.
's wife Mary (also known as Maureen) had a sinister reputation. Apparently it was devoted to strange and cruel practices such as hanging by the hair to its handmaidens in the tower of shelves, or worse, cut off their breasts! Of she also said that he married as many as 25 different husbands, with a kind of "term marriage" that lasted a year and a day. Mary settled in the homes of several "husbands" of his most faithful servants, then suddenly demanded a divorce (readily granted by the unfortunates who found themselves a house full of killers, ready to reason with him) taking possession of the property. Mary was a
MacMahon, and as such had red hair (hence the name) and used to ride along with her husband, the head of their troops in time of war.
Their descendants, who had settled in Dromoland, told some curious stories about Mary and Conor. In a battle against General Ireton, the son of Cromwell, Conor O'Brien was mortally wounded, but despite everything, strenuously refused to surrender to forces of occupation. His men brought him back to his wife Lemaneagh now on the verge of death. When they arrived at the castle, Mary can not speak or cry, but cried to the men from the tower: "What do you want this man dead?". Instead of feeling that her husband still had the breath of life, Mary ran down dalla torre, e rimase teneramente accanto a Conor fino al suo effettivo trapasso. Deposto il corpo del marito, Mary indossò l'abito più sfarzoso che possedeva, fece preparare la sua carrozza e partì alla volta di Limerick, assediata dalle truppe di Cromwell con a capo Ireton. Arrivata al campo nemico, fu ovviamente bloccata dalle sentinelle. A quel punto Mary si mise ad imprecare e ad insultare ferocemente i soldati, facendo tanta confusione che perfino Ireton e i suoi ufficiali, che nel frattempo stavano pranzando, vennero fuori per capire cosa stava succedendo. Quando gli fu chiesto chi fosse, lei rispose : " Ieri ero la moglie di Conor O'Brien, oggi sono la sua vedova". Ireton, stupito chiese come fosse possibile, visto che lo avevano combattuto, but not overwhelmed, only the day before, to show them some proof of his death. Mary, promptly replied that he would marry any of his officers had asked his wife. Captain Cooper, a very smart and brave man, took her word, and soon later he married her. In so doing, Red Mary managed to save the possessions of O'Brien in favor of his son, the future Sir Donat. Another version of the story, said that Ireton sent five of its best shooters, disguised as hunters, to kill Conor O'Brien. One of them managed to seriously injure Conor, but Mary had instantly captured and hanged the killer. After calling upon his children, he advised them to surrender alle truppe del Parlamento, e come nella versione precedente, si diresse verso Limerick per parlare con Ireton e sposare Cooper. Al castello di Lemaneagh, dopo il matrimonio, Cooper stava facendosi la barba in camera da letto, e nel farlo perlava irrispettosamente del defunto Conor. Sentendo isultare la memoria del precedente e amato marito, Mary aggredì il nuovo sposo, e una volta a terra lo uccise a calci nello stomaco. Dopo la morte di Cooper, passata come "incidentale", Red Mary cominciò a dedicarsi ai "matrimoni a tempo" di cui abbiamo già parlato. Purtroppo per lei, venne catturata dai suoi nemici dopo l'omicidio del suo 25° marito, da loro uccisa e gettata nel tronco cavo di un albero nelle vicinanze del Castello, da dove si dice that his red-haired ghost bait at times, and follow the road in front of Lemaneagh, infesting the nearby streets and the Druid altar of the castle in ruins.
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