Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Ballygrennan Castle or Castle Park described by Westropp (1906-7, 81) as following; '1610 David McCanney owned the C[astle]. of Parck (Inq. Chan., Car. I., 29). 1631 Pardon to Simon Fanning for alienation of the C[astle]. of Park in the County of the City (Pat R.). 1655 Ballygrenane C[astle]. (Petty 63)'. Castle depicted as a tower house type structure on the Down Survey map of the North Liberties in Limerick (Hib. Reg.).
Castle Park (NIAH Reg. No. 21900502) described in the Ordnance Survey Field Name Books for St. Munchins parish as following; 'The former name of this edifice was Castlepark, and it was built and occupied in 1620 by the O'Brien's of Thomond. In 1782 it became the property of the Ormsbys under the name of Blackland Castle, and lastly, in 1833, it became the property of Christopher Delmege Esq. who improved and rebuilt the greater portion of it. it is a splendid edifice, 4 story high, overlooking the Shannon' (OSNB Parish of St. Munchin, 1542).
Castle Park house described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage [NIAH] as following; 'Detached five-bay two-storey country house, built c. 1750, comprising floating pediment to front (south) elevation, full-height canted bay to east elevation having extension adjoining remodelled tower house to east with crenellated curtain wall. Two-bay four-storey extension to rear (north) elevation. Now in disuse. This substantial house, attributed to Francis Bindon, displays characteristic features of his work such as the lunette resting on the Venetian window's keystone. Built in different phases, the house retains its eighteenth-century façade with earlier fabric to the rear elevation. Castle Park is distinguished by its finely carved limestone dressings, which are indicative of the skill of eighteenth-century craftsmen. Battlements were added in the nineteenth century, when the castle style of architecture was in vogue'(www.buildingsofireland.ie).

See attached 1657 Down Survey barony map of the North Liberties showing Ballygrennan Castle.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 08 January 2020

References

OSNB - Ordnance Survey Name Books. Pro-forma books arranged by Civil Parish for recording townland and other name-forms and compiled in the course of the OS 6-inch survey 1824-1841. The name books also include minor names and incidental references to antiquities. National Archives of Ireland.

Westropp, T.J. 1906-7 The ancient castles of the county of Limerick. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 26, 54-264.

NLI, MS 718 - National Library of Ireland, Parish maps with terriers, showing forfeited lands in County Limerick, commonly known as the "Down Survey", executed under the direction of Sir William Petty, 1657, and copied by Daniel O'Brien, 1786.

Hibernia Regnum: A set of 214 barony maps of Ireland dating to the period AD 1655-59. The original parish maps have been lost but the Hibernia Regnum maps are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Goblet 1932, v-x). Photographic facsimiles of these maps were published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton in 1908.