Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Westropp (1906-7, 194-5) recorded the following details about a castle in the townland of Ballynacourty (Baile na Cúirte); 'It is the ancient court and manor of Dermochi, or Darragh-Mochua, 1185. Darachmuchua and the court of the monks of Limerick to Magio Abbey (charter). 1317 Isabella de Cogan and Garrett Roche, Lord of Fernagen, claim rents on Glenanlara and Dermeho (Mem. R., m. 62 f.). 1300 Dermochii town assessed two marks for the Scotch wars (Pipe R.). 1583 The broken C[astle]. of Ballynacortie in Arlo, held by Pierce Grace (Des. R., 8). 1607 Ballynecourty C[astle], with Darragh, &c, granted to Ed. Fitz Harys, along with Ballinagreanagh claimed as belonging to Downe Irish, a chapel of ease of the College of Kilmallock (Inq. Chan, 1a; Pat. R. ; also Proc. R.I. A., xxv. (c), p. 425, Nos. 250, 254). 1655 A butt of an old C[astle], Sir E. FitzHarys (O.S., xxv., p. 23). Only a heap of stones remained in 1840'. Tower house type castle depicted in Ballinacourty on the 1654-56 Down Survey map of Coshlea Barony (Hib. Reg.). The terrier of the Down Survey parish map of Kilfinnane and Particles stated that 'upon the Lands of Ballynacourty is a Castle (with a small charge) to be made habitable' (NLI, MS 718). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that in 1640 Sir Edward Fitz Harris an Irish Papist was the owner of 'Ballynecourta halfe a plowland with a But of an Old Castle and an Orchard thereupon' (Simington 1938, 245). Annotated 'Site of Castle' on 1840 ed. OSi 6-inch map. In 1840 the Ordnance Survey recorded that there 'was an old castle in the townland of Ballynacourty, but as it is now reduced to a heap of rubbish, its dimensions cannot be taken' (O'Flanagan 1929, 32; OSL Darragh Parish). No surface remains visible of levelled castle.

See attached Down Survey map of Coshlea Barony.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 6 October 2021

References

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

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

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.

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.