 A mile from Warrenpoint on the main Newry road is the old castle of
Narrow
Water, which in 1641 was garrisoned by a warden and his troops from
Newry
under the command of Sir Arthur Tyringham. At that time, Conn Magennis
was the Clan Chief, based further north in the homelands of Iveagh.
During the winter,
a wandering harper had stayed with the Magennises, entertaining
them each night with his playing by the glow of their campfires.
With the advent of spring and early summer he lingered on,
and one morning met
Lassara, daughter of the Magennis, who
had become fascinated by his music.
He invited her to go away with him to his island keep in
Lough Ochter,
away from the strife of the impending
uprising.
He had previously approached her father,
Conn, for her hand in marriage but had been refused.
Lassara agreed to go
with him,
and it was
arranged
that
at dawn
on the
following day, when she heard his harp playing, they would meet
and journey to Nun's Island where they would be married.
At daybreak the next day, they met as arranged,
and made their way to Nun's
Island, intending to proceed from there to the harper's home at Ochter Island.
At dusk
that evening,
they reached the Clanrye River
opposite
Shane O' Neill's
castle, and taking a skiff that was moored to the bank, made their way down
river to Nun's Island. Even in the fading light, however, they were spotted
by a
keen-eyed
sentry as they passed Narrow Water castle. When he received no reply
to his challenge, the sentry fired, killing
the harpist, who fell overboard
into the dark depths
of the
river.
Lassara collapsed with shock into the bottom
of the boat, being carried to the bank a little further on, where she was
rescued by the soldiers from the garrison,
only to be
imprisoned when they
identified her as the daughter of Conn Magennis. She was kept in the dungeon of
the castle,
her only comfort being that she could still hear the music of
her
murdered harpist
as dusk fell each evening. The warden now began to pester her for her favours and threatened
to have her killed unless she
consented to marry him.
One night, when the warden came to her cell and opened the door, she slipped
past him and ran up the back stairway to the battlements, pursued by the furious Englishman. She then
leapt
from the battlements to join the harpist near the spot where he had
perished just a short time before.
Conn learned of the fate of his daughter
Lassara from a prisoner
taken during a skirmish with soldiers of the
garrison, and subsequently led the clan from their territory in the mountains of northern Iveagh
to Narrow Water Castle, which
they
captured after a fierce battle, killing all but one of the
defenders. The lecherous warden is said to have chosen to throw himself into the river
rather than face death by the vengeful sword of the Magennis.
It is said that in winter-time, when storms rage round the ancient battlements, the harpist's music can be heard above the howling of the wind, while the
sad ghost
of
Lassara
Magennis
floats down from the top of the castle. The harp
notes fade away and finally cease as her apparition sinks slowly into the depths of the river below the ancient and blood-stained castle of Narrow Water.
Narrow Water Castle by twilight, with the ghost of Lassara Magennis
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