Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

The precise location of Killonan Castle within the townland has not been identified. Castle described by Westropp (1906-7, 86) as following; '1540 Clan Daug Bourke held Cil Lonain (Rental). 1583 W. Bourke, C[astle]. of Killonnan (Des. R., 37). 1589 Ric. f. Tho. Bourke, the two C[astle].s of the Killonans (Inq. Chan., Car. I. 19). 1657 Two C[astle].s named (D.S.A., 4 exp.). 1666 Granted to James Duke of York (Act Sett.). 1688 Shown as two towers three stories high, battlemented, and flanking a wing (Trustees' Map, 22). 1703 Sold to Hollow Blades Company'. Two buildings shown standing near the S border of the townland of Killonan on the Down Survey barony map of South Liberties (Hib. Reg.) may be the two castles held by Richard Bourke in 1589. These two buildings are depicted as two tower house like structures on the Down Survey map of Kilmurry Parish (NLI, MS 718)

See attached Down Survey barony map of South Liberties (Hib. Reg.) showing two buildings close to the parish boundary with Derrygalvin and the map of Kilmurry Parish showing two castles.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 14 January 2020

References

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.

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