Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Caherelly West Castle described in 1840 as, 'This castle is set upon a small eminence. It is about 60 feet high and 20 feet wide, being square. it still retains its roof, etc. in perfect condition' (OSNB Caherelly Parish, 321; OSL, 100).
Caherelly West Castle stands 40m N of Caherelly Cottage with Caherelly Church (LI023-085001-) 330m to E. Westropp (1906-7, 91) recorded the following details about Caherelly West Castle and bawn (LI023-083001-); '1283 Suit of J. de Norragh about Catherelny (Plea R.). 1323 And of Almeric de Bellofago and T. f. Rhys, about Milltown watermill there (lb. 139, m. 23). 1583 "Carelii duo castell," by W. Bourke (Des. R., 37). 1599 Tadeus O'Heyne died, seized of the C[astle]. of Caherely en-temple. 1622 His son Conor died, whose son Donat entailed the C[astle]. hall, bawn, and vill of Le Caherelly (Inq. Chan., 69b). 1629 He was pardoned for alienation of Caherelly West (Pat. R.). 1655 Dan Heyne held it (C.S., xxi., p. 28). 1667 The C[astle]. of West Caherelly confirmed to Sir W. King (Act Sett.). The connexion of the O'Heynes, however, subsisted to at least 1748, when it is noted that Hynes of Cahirelly and Clanchy of Ballyvorneen were the only gentry between Ballinaguard and O'Brien's Bridge who were not Burkes (FitzG., vol. i., p. 284). Fabric - A peel tower, 60 feet [18.3m] high and 20 feet [6m] wide'. Tower-house like castle with house attached to one side depicted on the 17th century Down Survey map of Clanwilliam Barony (Hib. Reg.) and on the parish map of Caherelly (NLI MS. 718).
The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that Teige Heyne, an Irish Papist, was the owner of Caherelly West which contained 'a Castle Bawen a Mill Seate & a marble quarry' (Simington 1938, 76). Classified by Donnelly (1999, 22, 37) as a Type 1A tower house which consists of a castle where the; '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.'
Described by Salter (2004, 70) as following; 'The NW, SW and SE corners of this O'Heyne tower measuring 10.4m by 7.8m still stand 18m high, with a stair in the SE corner still serving all five levels. The second and fourth storeys once had vaults and the fifth storey still has a room within a square bartizan on the SW corner, whilst the east wall contained a tier of subsidiary chambers over the entrance. A gunloop in the bartizan has a square hole at the base and an oillet higher up. A second tower nearby had vanished by 1900'.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 7 December 2020

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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