Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 263. William Ó Fearghail (O’Farrell) is recorded as having built a ‘castle’ at Granard in 1405 (Ó hInnse 1947, 175). This castle was taken by English forces in 1420 who soon after abandoned it. The annals note that O’Farrell ‘demolished it for fear of their occupying it again’ (Ann. Conn., 455). A castle at Granard is mentioned in grants to Francis Shane in 1593 (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz.) and in 1608 (Pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 499-500), and this is probably the same castle that is noted in the list of lands surrendered to the Crown in 1619 (ibid., 452). An early 17th-century map of Granard barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.i.47) depicts a castle standing on top of the hill at Granard in the area where the motte and bailey (LF010-080001-) are located. Some remains clearly survived into the 19th century as O’Donovan records: that ‘It is said that this moat was opened about fifty years ago, and that the arched vaults of a castle were found within it, built of beautiful square stones, which were well cemented with lime and sand mortar’ (AFM vol. 3, 388-9). The grass-covered remains of this castle can still be seen at the base of the SE side of the motte where a short stretch of walling, 2–3 courses high, has been recorded (Bradley et al. 1985, 18).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 17 April 2012

References

Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I - Irish patent rolls of James I: facsimile of the Irish record commissioners' calendar prepared prior to 1830, with foreword by M.C. Griffith (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1966)

AFM - Annála ríoghachta Éireann: Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the earliest period to the year 1616, ed. and trans. J. O'Donovan (7 vols., Dublin, 1851; reprint Dublin 1990, de Búrca Rare Books.)

Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz. - Calendar of patent and close rolls of chancery in Ireland, Elizabeth, 19 year to end of reign, ed. J. Morrin (Dublin 1862)

Erck, J.C. (ed.) 1846-52 A repertory of the inrolments of the patent rolls of chancery in Ireland commencing with the reign of King James I, vol. 1, parts 1-2. Dublin.

British Library, Cotton Manuscripts, Augustus I. Charts of the baronies of Granard, Rathcline, Longford, Ardagh, Shrule and Moydow, County Longford. London. (microfilm, NLI p. 1364)

Ó hInnse, S. (ed.) 1947 'Mac Carthaig's Book', Miscellaneous Irish Annals (AD 1114-1437). The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H. 1985 Urban archaeological survey - county Longford. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

Ann. Conn. - Annála Connacht, The Annals of Connacht, 1224-1544, ed. A. Martin Freeman (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1944)