Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

No surface remains visible of site of round tower which is shown on the revised ed. OS 6-inch map as located in SW corner of St. Patrick's Graveyard (LI004-029002-). Westropp (1904-5) recorded the following details about this site; 'The graveyard alone remains. A broken round tower and ruined church [LI005-029001-] are shown on the Down Survey map, 1657 (p. 13), and were levelled in 1776 (Fitzgerald, ii., p 561)'. The Down Survey map of South Liberties Barony shows a a tower attached to the W end of St Patrick's church with cross rising from top of building (Hib. Reg.). This tower is more likely the remains of a residential tower attached to the west end of St Patrick's Church rather than the remains of a round tower. This tower is clearly visible on the Down Survey map of St. Patrick's Parish (NLI, MS 718).

See attached images of church and tower taken from Down Survey Barony map of South Liberties and from St. Patricks Parish map.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 8 June 2020

References

Westropp, T.J. 1904-5 A survey of the ancient churches of Co. Limerick. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 25C, 327-479.

Fitzgerald, P. and McGregor, J.J. 1826 The history, topography and antiquities of the county and city of Limerick. Dublin.

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.

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.