Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

On a low knoll, part of which may be composed of collapsed debris, with good pastureland to the E but surrounded by poor rocky ground to S, W and N. Indicated and named ‘Turlough castle (in ruins)’ on the 1842 and 1915 eds. of the 6-inch OS maps. Originally an O’Loughlin castle, it was conveyed to an Alderman of Galway, John Lynch, in 1590, but after some dispute was returned to O’Loughlin possession by 1601 (Ua Cróinín and Breen 2014). The Neylons were in possession by 1617 and under the able stewardship of Máire Rua, retained ownership throughout the tumultuous mid-seventeenth century (ibid.). The castle is not recorded after 1669 and likely then fell out of use (ibid.).
Today, the site of the castle presents as a roughly circular flat-topped mound (dims. at base 19.1m N–S x 18.2m E–W; diam. on top 8m; max. H 3.4m). The foundation of a small rectangular building (traceable L 3m NNE–SSW; int. Wth 2.2m) defined by grassed-over stone walls (Wth 0.6–0.8m; H 0.2m) lies near its north end and a similar wall (L 4m) runs off the SW corner of the building in a SE direction. At the E upper surface some rubble also projects through the sod cover.

The following items have been uploaded:
CL006-014002-_01.pdf Details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report). Uploaded courtesy of R. Ua Cróinín and M. Breen.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin

Date of upload: 4 May 2021