Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

The precise location of the medieval castle in the townland of Sreelane [Sryelane] has not been identified. It has been suggested (SMR File) that the present ruins of the 19th century corn mill known as Plassy Mills may have incorporated the medieval castle of Sreelane which is depicted on the 1657 Down Survey map of Kilmurry Parish (NLI, Ms 718). However on this map the medieval castle is shown standing on the S bank of the River Shannon in close proximity to the area now occupied by Plassy House. The medieval castle of Sreelane was located either on the site of Plassy House or between this house and the River Shannon located 125m to the N. A medieval watermill (LI005-116----) standing on the S bank of the River Shannon to the NW of the castle is depicted on the 1657 Down Survey map of Kilmurry parish (NLI, Ms. 718). The terrier of the Down Survey map recorded that there was 'a ruined castle & a grist mill at Drumruo [Sreelane]. In 1620 King James I granted Edmund Bourk Fitz Richard of Ballysimon lands including 'the castle and lands of Shrylane, containing 1 mill' (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 480). The 1654-6 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that Edmund Bourke Fitz Richard was the owner of a 'broken Castle, and a Mill' in the townand of 'Sreylane' (Simington 1938, 466).
Sreelane Castle was described by Westropp (1906-7, 86) as following; ‘Shreelane or Dromroe (5). Not marked. 1620 Edm. Bourke f. Ric. confirmed in Shrylane C. (Pat. R,), 1655 Sryelane and Dromruo with a broken C, held by T. Arthur (D.S.A,, 4, exp. C.S. xxix., 10 B.D., 104). 1688 C, shown as a turreted peel tower in “Shrillane," on the Shannon bank (Trustees' Map, 22)’.
Plassy House was described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as a 'Detached L-plan multiple-bay two-storey country house, built c. 1770, comprising three-bay front block with pedimented shallow breakfront having single-storey portico. Rebuilt in the 1870s. Plassy House, a notable example of a Georgian villa style country house, was rebuilt in the Italianate style. Originally the estate was owned by Robert Clive who renamed it Plassey after his victory in India. He later became Lord Clive of Plassey. The Russell family extended it in the 1860s, the work was purportedly carried out by the architect William Fogarty. The Russells owned the nearby Plassey Mills. Prominently sited close to the River Shannon and within the campus of the University of Limerick, the house forms a pleasing focal point for the surrounding area' (www.buildingsofireland.ie, Reg. No. 21900505).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 25 October 2018

References

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.

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

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)

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1938 The civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. IV: county of Limerick, with a section of Clanmaurice barony Co. Kerry. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.