Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

On a spur of high ground (H c. 10m) in rough pasture, partly covered in trees, with a stream c. 14m to the S, another smaller watercourse c. 38m to the NW, and a quarry c. 48m to the E. Labelled ‘Site of Fanta Cas.’ on the 1842 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Shown as a hachured mound and labelled ‘Fanta Castle (Site of)’ on the OS 25-inch plan (1897) and 1920 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Listed as ‘Castle’ in the RMP (1996) and incorrectly listed in the townland of Lisdoony East. Originally an O’Connor stronghold, by 1574 this tower house was the property of the O’Briens; in 1641 it was granted by Cromwellian forces to Arthur Hyde and Patrick Stafford (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). The Ordnance Survey Letters (O'Flanagan 1928, vol. 1, 286) recorded that a small portion of the sides of the castle were upstanding, within which there was a dwelling house. No visible surface traces of the tower house survive. However, some roughly dressed hammerstones and quoinstones from it have been incorporated into the walls of a modern stone-built cottage c. 5m to its ENE. Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997) noted that a number fragments of window loops, including an inverted ogee-headed lintel, had also been incorporated into the walls and that a large door jamb with a bolt hole lay against one of them. On inspection in July 1998, none of these were visible but a windowsill (CL009-085003-) was noted in the wall of an adjacent outhouse to the SW of the cottage.

See attached document with details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen. 1997. The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report). Uploaded courtesy of R. Ua Cróinín and M. Breen.

Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 4 May 2022

References

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1928 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Clare collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Typescript in 3 vols. Bray.

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 Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.