Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Located roughly centrally on bawn (CL035-032001-), in undulating, improved pasture and parkland within the former Maryfort Estate. There are reasonable views of the surrounding landscape, albeit overlooked by higher ground to WNW. According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997, vol. 6, 1), ‘the castle of Lismeehan, also known as Maryfort, was built about 1420 to 1440 by Mahon or Rory MacNamara. It is one of the earlier castles of the county and was built on the site of a fort or earthwork’. According to Salter (2004, 43), the castle was held by Connor O’ Brien, 3rd Earl of Thomond in 1563, had returned to the MacNamara’s ownership by the 1570s and was superseded by Maryfort House c. 1710 which is c. 570m to NE.
The remains of a rectangular structure (10.85m NE-SW; 7.5m NW-SE) which is extant to ground-floor level (max. H c. 1.8m) and is defined by a rubble limestone wall (T c. 1.5-1.8m). The walls have been robbed of facing stones along the NE side and on the return of the N and E corners. There is an external base batter (Wth c. 0.12m; min. H 0.65m) which is best seen along the SW wall, where the roughly squared rubble facing stones are best preserved. There are no external features containing cut stone, only the remains of broken out openings including the main entrance in the NE wall, opposing windows in the NW and SE walls and a small garderobe chute off-centre to NE in the NW wall. A large, irregular mass of masonry rests on the S corner and off-centre to NE on the SE wall, with a third chunk adjacent to ESE.
The main entrance (Wth c. 1.2m) is broken out and is off-centre to N in the NE wall (max. H 1.5m; T 0.4m-0.7m). A narrow entrance lobby is flanked to NW by a small guardroom (2m NE-SW; 1.95m NW-SE) and to SE leading into a short lobby and several steps of a spiral staircase (Wth 1.18m) which is turning clockwise. The entrance lobby leads straight ahead into the main ground floor living space which is a rectangular area (5.75m NE-SW; 3.8m NW-SE). The remains of two opposing window embrasures (Wth c. 2.1m) having straight in-goings (D c. 1.3m) are centrally located in the NW and SE walls of this room. The window lights no longer survive and the base of both embrasures are covered in loose rubble stone. The ground floor is generally level with much rubble and young thorn tree thickets within the main room. The ground floor walls do not survive to full height and there are no surviving upper floor levels. The tower house ruins are enclosed by thorn trees thickets and clumps of briars, which obscure it from the landscape.

The following items have been uploaded:

CL035-032002-_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.
CL035-032002-_01.jpg From NNW. External view of NNW wall of tower house remains between two 2m rods.
CL035-032002-_02.jpg From WSW. Exterior of WSW elevation showing in situ basal stones of base batter (Wth 0.1m; H 0.7m). Stones are quite well squared examples of limestone with a roughly dressed surface. Only lower 3 courses survive.
CL035-032002-_03.jpg From NE. Doorway into main living space at ground level.
CL035-032002-_04.jpg From SSE. View into guardroom.
CL035-032002-_05.jpg From NNW. View into lobby and staircase.
CL035-032002-_06.jpg From NNW. View of thick wall dividing main living space and staircase lobby.
CL035-032002-_07.jpg From ENE. ENE wall exterior and a view of the main entrance – only basal jambstones survive. Entrance is between 2 1m rods.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 11 July 2018

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.

Salter, M. 2004 The castles of North Munster. Worcestershire. Folly Publications.