There was a prior, pre 16th Century, castle on the grounds of current day Lynch castle in Summerhill, County Meath. Histories tell us that this older castle was demolished sometime in the 1700s.
A survey of the present day ruins of Lynch's castle (picture of which is above, and on the above right) mentions the following:
"The sixteenth-century castle at Summerhill has a four-storey tower. The spiral staircase in the NW corner has a newel and gunloops. The upper levels have fireplaces in the south wall ... There are fine upper windows with dished spandrels and hoodmoulds. .. Attached to the SW corner is a range, possibly T-plan, bearing a plaque with the O’Neill arms. "
The detail above of the current castle ruins is a possible link to the Gaelic tradition and the pre-Norman links of Cnoc na Loinsigh, which is eloborated further below.
(You can also see virtual reality views of the castle on Abandoned Ireland.com - here (inside) and here (outside) )
The first individual Lynch we find record of at Cnoc na Loingsigh was an Andrew Lynch (circa 1200 AD) and his descendents remained there until the dispossession of a Gerald Lynch in 1650 by Cromwell's forces. Some further detail on this family history is on this linked page here
Pre-Norman Records of the Lynch's in Meath and links to O'Neill Dynasty
In the 1845 published edition of the Annals of the Four Masters by Owen Cornelian Esq, there are extensive footnotes which flesh out the detail of the pre-Norman, Gaelic aristocracy. In his foreward he says 'To render these Annals one of the most important works ever published on Irish History and Antiquities, no trouble has been spared, or no available information neglected,and great expense has been incurred. All the best authorities, ancient and modern, have been consulted in the explanations of the text, and compilation of the notes' .. There are a lot, of very detailed notes, with long long lists of sources. So in the midst of all this for our Lynchs in Summerhill, in Meath, I found the following mentions of interest:
"The ancient kingdom of Meath was formed in the second century by Tuathal Teachtmar, (or Tuathal the Acceptable,) who was monarch of Ireland from A.D. 130 to A.D. 160, by the combination of a portion from each of the then four provinces or kingdoms, and their annexation to Meath : hence it became a Cuigeadh, or fifth province, which term was afterwards and has been to the present applied to a province. The Irish name is Midhe, or, according to some authorities, Meidhe, which signifies a neck, because it was formed by a portion or nerh taken from each of the four provinces. Others derive it from Midhe, who was chief Druid to Nemedius, and by whom the first sacred fire was kindled in Ireland at U'wieach. ..From the fifth to the eleventh century, during a period of six hundred years, the Hy Nialls held exclusive possession of the Irish monarchy, until A.D.1002, when Brian Boroimhe, king of Munster became monarch of Ireland.
...The following also were clans of note .. in Meath O'Laingseachs, or O'Lynches .. and others.
The chiefs and clans of ancient Meath were, with few exceptions, of the race of the southern Hy Nialls."
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The O'Neill / Ui Neill / Hy Neill High Kingship of Ireland did run for 600 years, but it didn't all end with Brian Boru. After Boru another O'Neill regained title of High King of a somewhat more divided kingdom of Ireland. And the last of the O'Neill dynasty was overthrown in 1166 by an O'Connor, who was the High King at the time of the Norman invasion.
Another mention in the 'copious notes' of Owen Cornelian's book of the Annals of the Four Master, references another branch of the Lynchs, as part of the Red Branch Knights in Ulaid (Ulster) - the O'Neill homeland and powerbase through the six plus centuries of their high-kingship of Ireland:
"The chiefs and clans of Dalaradia or Ulidia, and the territories which they possessed in the twelfth century, as collected from O'Dugan's Topography, are as follows : The Craobh Ruadh, or the portion of the Sedhranch Knights of Ulster ..The principal chiefs of the Craobh Ruadh were .. O'Labhradha ; O'Leathlobhra ; O'Luingsigh, or Lynch .."
This all ties in with the mentions of the Lynch's and their links to the O'Neill High Kingship, on the present-day in-situ Tourist notice in Summerhill, and also may well be the reason for the presence of the O'Neill coat of arms in the present day ruins of Lynch's Castle, on 'Cnoc na Loinsigh'.
