Maudlin Castle is a tower house which formed part of a medieval hospital and National Monument located in Kilkenny, Ireland
Leprosy arrived in Ireland in the 10th or 11th century. Many leper houses were dedicated to Mary Magdalene because of the association between her and sexual excess and prostitution, which were incorrectly associated with leprosy.
The Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene in Kilkenny was opened sometime before 1327 (perhaps by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke in the early 13th century) and it quickly became one of the main leper houses in medieval Ireland. It was on the edge of the city and surrounded by high walls. The entrance was controlled through a gatehouse. It also had a chapel, graveyard and 50 acres of farmland. This hospital had a long association with St. John’s Priory, Kilkenny.
The surviving tower house was built in the early 16th century. The hospital was dissolved in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Maudlin Castle was described as ‘a small castle roofed with tiles, which was built for the defence of the lepers and dwellers in the suburbs, this is now empty and worth nothing’. There is a reference in 1628 to a ‘town ditch’ near St. Mary’s Church, so there may have been a moat beyond the gate. The hospital was gifted to Kilkenny Corporation by Charles I.
The hospital also served as a “retirement home” for rich families like the Rothes, Langtons and Shees. Archaeological digs on the street indicate a diet of beef, mutton, bacon and wildfowl.
This visit I noticed that the water was covered with a carpet of green and when I examined my photographs from 2021 it was much the same. After some research I discovered that there is an environmental problem as an invasive species of plant is hindering efforts to maintain the duck pond in Kilkenny’s Castle Park.
The state of the pond is due to a high level of algae building up in the water and the Office of Public Works has indicated that they have to be careful that any work they carry out doesn’t allow the ”Australian swamp stone crop” in the pond to get into the River Nore. Also, they were unable to clean the water until after the bird nesting season.
Australian swamp stonecrop (Crassula helmsii) is an invasive aquatic plant that dominates still and slow-flowing waterbodies. It was initially introduced from Australia in the early 1900s as a garden pond plant but is now spreading across waterbodies in the UK and parts of Western Europe.
It is particularly problematic in sensitive aquatic habitats where it has the potential to outcompete native flora and reduce oxygen levels by forming dense, impenetrable mats. This weed can also have negative impacts on recreation and can block filters necessary for water treatment. Australian swamp stonecrop tolerates extreme environmental conditions and, as such, management can be very challenging and often unsuccessful, especially for infestations in areas of high conservation value.
You must be logged in to post a comment.