Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Poorly preserved ruins of Killeedy Castle stands in centre of a circular shaped earthwork (LI044-099001-) overlooking a stream immediately to SW. The ruins of Killeedy Church (LI044-101001-), graveyard (LI044-101002-) and St Ida's Well (LI044-101003-) located 120m to SSE. Castle described in 1840 as 'immediately to the north west of the Church is situated, on a small hillock which is nearly insulated by a stream, a fragment of the Castle of Killeedy, which looks very conspicuous from every direction you approach it, though it consists of only a fragment of the south wall. Tradition ascribes it to King John' (OSL Killeedy Parish; O'Flanagan 1929, 28). In 1655 the Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that Sir Edmund FitzGerald was the owner in 1640 of land in Killeedy 'having on it an old Castle and a Church' (Simington 1938, 263).

Westropp (1906-7, 236-7) recorded the following details about Killeedy; '1299 Tho[mas]. an Appagh and his descendants, the Earls of Desmond, owned the Manor of Killyde (C.S.P.I. ; Pipe Roll, 1452, Rental). 1581 C[astle]. and vill. held by T. Chane. 1587 Granted to A. Hungerford (Carew i, p. 448). 1596 T. Cawne and his son Maur[ice]. got livery, and were granted Desmond's C[astle].s Kyledie, Gortnetubred, and Lisnekilly (Pat. R.). It was held, like Gortnetubbrid by the Fitzgeralds (C.S., p. 15). 1663 T. Walcott, of Croagh, mortgaged Kilieedy, Clonagh, &c, to W. Shipply (Act Sett.). Fabric - It is on a mound near a bend of a stream, and, though lofty, is utterly defaced'. The Limerick Leader newspaper dated January 16 1988, recorded that the castle was struck by lightning which resulted in the collapse of the tower, fragments of which were found 110 yards from the tower house. Building described by Salter (2004, 98) as a 'four storey high west corner fragment of tower on mound [LI044-099001-] by stream. Ditched platform to NE may contain vaults. Held by Earl of Desmond in 1581'.

See attached Down Survey barony map of Connello showing Killeedy Castle (Hib. Reg.).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 5 August 2021

References

ASIAP - Archaeological Survey of Ireland Aerial Photographs (c. 1996 - c. 2010).

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.

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

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.

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.