Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture on a low E-W ridge overlooking a valley to the S. Drawn as a rectangular building and labelled ‘Castle (in ruins)’ on the first edition (1842) of the OS 6-inch map but indicated with a cross and labelled ‘Castle (Site of)’ on the later OS 25-inch plan (1897) and on the Cassini edition (1920) of the OS 6-inch map. According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997), the castle was recorded as being owned in 1574 by ‘Sr. Donell Obrien’, the son of Conor O’Brien, king of Thomond, and they also note a 1613 reference to Edward Blood (Protestant rector of Kilnaboy) as being ‘of Kilnaboy Castle’, but it is unclear if this site or another residence was being referred to. The castle is shown on Pelham’s map of 1787, and is noted in Dutton’s survey (1808). Frost (1893) described it as entirely ruined by the time of his writing. Ua Cróinín and Breen (1993, 11; 1997) noted that typical medieval dressed stones have been identified in nearby farm outbuildings, including a window or loop jamb and a rounded corbel and that the field is still known locally as the “castle field”. When inspected in 1998, no visible surface traces were found. Killinaboy church (CL017-020001-), graveyard (CL017-020002-) and round tower (CL017-020003-) lie c. 70m to the WSW. 

 

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott 

 

Date of upload: 9-10-2025

References

Frost, J. 1893 (Reprint 1978) The history and topography of the county of Clare: from the earliest times to the beginning of the 18th century. Dublin. Mercier Press. 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 Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.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. 1993 Some obscure tower house sites in the Corofin area. The Other Clare 17, 5-12.
Dutton, H. 1808 Statistical survey of the county of Clare, with observations on the means of improvement, etc. Dublin. Graisberry and Campbell.