Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

On a low rocky knoll/plinth surrounded to S, W and N by rough outcropping rock. A steep-sided ridge rises nearby to W, the land falls away to a gully to N and to E a narrow strip of pasture (Wth c. 150m) is bounded on its SE by a low N–S ridge. Indicated and named ‘Cappagh Castle (in ruins)’ on the 1842 and 1915 eds. of the OS 6-inch maps. It was an O’Loughlin castle listed as ‘Nacapaghee’ in 1574 (Twigge 1910, 82), that was also occasionally in O’Brien ownership (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997, 67). After the 1641 rebellion it was forfeited to John Blake and John Morgan and Bodkin’s and Dood’s are listed as tenants in 1659 (ibid.). It was likely demolished by Cromwellian commissioners. When photographed by George Macnamara, c.1900, three walls stood and three floor vaults remained intact (ibid.).
A poorly preserved towerhouse (L 6.5m; Wth 5.5m; max. surviving H 14m), originally 5 floors high (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1996, 6), constructed of regular limestone blacks on a narrow plinth of cut stones and quarried away bedrock, which projects up to 0.3m from the castle wall face along S. The N wall survives best (H 14m) and contains loops at the first and second floors, an angle loop on the first floor and vaults over the ground and second floors. The first-floor loop is set in an embrasure surmounted by an arch of regularly cut stone. A stairwell and garderobe shaft are among the rubble collapsed from the W wall. Remains of windows and doors are also evident. Vestiges of a bawn wall (CL006-064002-) survive to the E, N and W. Two loop heads and a loop sill (CL006-064007-) are built into the wall of a small shed adjacent a farmhouse c.400m to NNE.

The following items have been uploaded:
CL006-064003-_01.pdf Details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report).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.
CL006-064003-_01.jpg View from E
CL006-064003-_02.jpg View from S
CL006-064003-_03.jpg View from W

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin

Date of upload: 13 September 2021

References

Ua Cróinín, R. and Breen, M. 1997 The castles and tower-houses of Co. Clare, 6 vols. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.

Ua Cróinín, R. and Breen, M. 1996 Some tower houses with bawns in the Burren. The Other Clare 20, 5-13.