Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Located within the S sector of a cashel (CL009-059064-). Indicated and named ‘Ballyganner Castle (in ruins)’ on the 1842 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. By the time of the OS 25-inch plan (1897) only the E and S walls are depicted; the latter wall appears to have been built on the line of the cashel wall. Listed as ‘Castle’ in the RMP (1996). It was probably an important centre of the O’Connors of Corcomroe (see also FitzPatrick 2009, 302) but by 1572 it was under the ownership of Sir Donal O’Brien (see attached document, Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). It changed hands several times during the first half of the 17th century before being destroyed, in about 1655, under the Cromwellian commissioners for dismantling castles (ibid.).

Straddling the S arc of the cashel wall, only the NE corner of this small rectangular tower house (int. dims. c. 3m E-W; ext. dims. 5.7m E-W; min. 6m N-S) is upstanding, comprising part of the outer face of the N wall (L 1.4m; Wth 1.1m) and the N end of the E wall (L 3m; H c. 6.5m; Wth at base 1.9m). The W wall (Wth 1.5m; L 6m) can also be traced within the surrounding rubble mound (basal diam. 16-19m; H 2.5-3m). The extant walls are built of uneven limestone masonry courses, bonded with a hard white mortar. The quoins are relatively thin well-shaped limestone slabs set on edge. A rebate for a loft (wall Wth above this 1.1m) and the springing of the vault (H 2.3m) are visible on the inner face of the E wall. A possible 16th/17th-century house (CL009-059107-) c. 18m to the N may be the tighe móir (main residence) of the cashel but as FitzPatrick (2009, 302) notes, the relationship between it and the tower house is unclear. Three other houses (CL009-059108-, CL009-059109- and CL009-059110-) lie c. 23m to the NE of the tower house.

See attached document with details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report).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.

The following image has been uploaded: CL009-059065-_01 View from NE

Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 5 April 2022

References

FitzPatrick, E. 2009 Native enclosed settlement and the problem of the Irish 'ring-fort'. Medieval Archaeology 53, 271–307.

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 Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.