Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Carrigarreely Castle described in 1840 as follows; 'This castle is placed on a limestone rock, about 2 chains (40m) in diameter and 20 feet (6.1m) high. It retains the appearance of a strong building, and is about 60 feet (18.3m) high and 24 feet (7.3m) wide, being square' (OSNB Caherconlish Parish, 305). The Ordnance Survey Letters recorded that the 'walls are perfect. It measures nineteen feet eight inches by fourteen and a half feet in the clear and has five stories; the fourth floor is arched underneath. The height of the structure is about seventy feet and the thickness of the walls about six and a half feet' (OSL Caherconlish Parish, 117-8). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that the Lord of Brittas was the owner of 'a Castle, and a bawen' (Simington 1938, 64).
Westropp (1906-07, 96) recorded the following details about Carrigareely; 'Fitzgerald calls it Carrigifarrioyla, "the O'Farrellys' rock," and says it was built by the Bourkes and occupied by the O'Dalys (vol. ii., p. 286) ; O'Donovan denies this, and says it was Carraig Fearghaill, Farrell's Rock (O.S.L., 8, p. 408). 1558 Sussex on his progress was entertained with drink by W. Burke as he passed the C[astle]. of Carree Kerellois (Carew, i., p. 274). 1567 Pardon to Theo. Bourke of Carrygkyrily (Fi., 1050). 1576 Theo, died in possession of Karriarilie or Karrigkyrely (Inq. Exch., 9). 1655 Carrigiriell held by Lord Brittas. C[astle]. shown (D.S.A., 14, 18; C.S., xxi., p. 10). Fabric - It stood on a rock 20 feet [6m] high, and was fairly perfect, being about 70 feet [21.3m] high, with five stories, the fourth floor over a vault. It measured 19 feet 8 inches [6m], by 14½ feet [4.4m] inside. Walls 6½ feet [2m] thick (O.S.L., 8, p. 408)'.
Tower-house like castle depicted on the 17th century Down Survey map of Clanwilliam Barony (Hib. Reg.) and the parish map of Caherconlish (NLI, MS. 718).
Castle described by Salter (2004, 71) as ;'This tower measuring 10.6m by 8.2m lies on a rock with a sheer drop of 6m on the west side and a drop of 1 .5m on the south, so that a two storey range later added on that side had an upper storey almost at the same height as the lowest storey of the main tower. This end contains a tier of mural chambers over the entrance passage and there is a spiral staircase in the SW corner. Not much remains of the main tower above the vault over the third storey. The west wall contains a fireplace on the second storey and a latrine reached from the staircase on the third storey'. Classified by Donnelly (1999, 37) as a Type 1A Tower House which is a castle with a 'ground floor entrance to the building leads to an entrance lobby. To one side of the entrance lobby is a doorway leading to a spiral staircase set in a corner of the building. To the other side is a doorway leading into a small chamber - the subsidiary chamber. The entrance lobby provides a direct route of access through to the main chamber'.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 30 November 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.

OSL - Ordnance Survey Letters. Letters written by members of the Ordnance Survey's 'Topographical Department' (T. O'Conor, A. O'Curry, E. Curry, J. O'Donovan and P. O'Keeffe) sent to headquarters from the field (1834-41). MSS in Royal Irish Academy.

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

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.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1929 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Limerick collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1841. Bray

Salter, M. 2004 The castles of North Munster. Worcestershire. Folly Publications.

Donnelly, C.J. 1999 A Typological Study of the Tower Houses of County Limerick. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 129, 19-39.

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.