Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a pronounced mound (H 3.4m) in a bawn (CL010-040001-) crowning a high prominence surrounded by undulating, hazel-covered land. Named ‘Glencolumbkille Castle (in ruins)’ on the 1842 and 1920 eds. of the OS 6-inch map. Various documentary records mention one or two castles in Glencolumbkille; however, it is not clear whether this castle or another (CL010-036001-) in the neighbouring townland of Glencolumbkille South is being referred to in these sources, or indeed whether both castles even existed (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1996, 9-10). A castle of ‘Glancollayn Kelly’ was owned by a member of the O’Loughlin clan in 1574. After the 1641 rebellion the castle was confiscated by the British and given to one John Blake and his wife (ibid.), then rented to John Hynes and Brian Kilkelly in 1659 – the last mention of this castle.

Only part of the roughly coursed NW wall survives (int. H c. 3m; ext. H min. 3m), built of medium-sized regular, roughly dressed blocks. On the outer wall-face is a broken garderobe aperture (H c. 1.6m; Wth 1m) and intact chute (L 0.83m; Wth 0.34m). On the inner wall-face there is one corbel (H 1.3m above present ground level) and remains of vaulting which extends 0.4m from the wall. Extending SE from the middle of the inner wall-face is part of an internal wall with the W part of a doorway (est. Wth 1.35m; H 1.48m up to hanging-eye) near its centre. Ua Cróinín and Breen (ibid., 9) interpreted this as the wall dividing the main ground floor chamber from the porter’s lodge. The SE wall of the tower house is covered in rubble, and there is no clear trace of the NE and SW walls. There is a medieval house (CL010-040005-) c. 6m to the SE. About the same distance to the NE is a small stone shed which is probably much later in date but built using stone from the tower house (ibid.).

The following item has been uploaded:
CL010-040002-_01.pdf Details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report).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 Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 18 April 2023

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 Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.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