The road from Ballyduff to Thomastown in County Kilkenny, runs along the valley of the River Nore, past Grennan Castle , now  a picturesque ruin, the roof top grass as lush as any meadow. The castle's proud position is undeterred by the loss of carved lintels and window arches by vandals, its moat  a remote memory in the ground and  Cromwell's two day siege in 1650, of which he wrote of declaring after two days the enemy, left, agreeing 'never to again bear arms against England'. It can't only be in retrospect that that would be a hard thing to believe.