Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Westropp (1906/7, 172-3) recorded the following details about Tankardstown [Baile Thancaird] Castle; '1280 Anne, widow of J. de Cogan, claimed dower off Tancardstown from J. de Penrys (Mem. R.). 1291 Balliitankard held by de Lees, de Goulys, and, in 1320, by the Russells, a suit arising as to whether J. de Cogan had unjustly disseised John, grandfather of Tho. Russell, of it (Plea R.). There was a Tancardus Russell, of Kilbreedy 1325 (Ib.). 1583 Jas. Fox held Ballytanckarde (Des. R., 33b). The C[astle]. is not given in the surveys of 1655. It was granted, 1666, to Capt. C. Ormsby. The site was called Caisleán Baile an Airighte, in 1840 (O.S.L., 8, p. 85)'. Tankardstown Castle depicted as a tower house type structure standing in the centre of a possible polygonal shaped bawn on the 1654-6 Down Survey map of Coshma Barony (Hib. Reg.). Annotated 'Tankardstowne Castle' on the Down Survey map of Tankardstown Parish (NLI, Ms 718). The terrier of the Down Survey parish map recorded that on the lands of Tankardstown there stood a 'decayed castle' which in 1640 was in the possession of Nell Lacy (nee FitzGerald) (ibid.). In 1840 the Ordnance Survey letters recorded that 'there was an old castle, the ancient name of which was "Caisleán Bhaile in Airighthe" in Tankardstown North Townland but not a vestige of it remains at present' (O'Flanagan 1929, 30).

See attached Down Survey map of Coshma Barony and map of Tankardstown Parish.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 19 August 2021

References

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

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.

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

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.