Town defences

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on flat pasture with good views in all directions. The medieval settlement at Thurles appears to have been established along a fording point of the River Suir which runs N-S along the E side of the present town. Thurles was established as an Anglo-Norman town (TN041-042----) by Theobald Walter in the late twelfth century around which time the earth and timber motte-castle (TN041-042004-) was constructed (Bradley 1985, 54; Empey 1989, 32, 36). This Anglo-Norman fortification known locally as the 'Moat' was located 70m NW of Liberty Square in the NW quadrant of the medieval town.
The earliest reliable reference to a castle in Thurles is in a charter granted by Theobald Walter, who died in 1206 (Curtis 1933, 18). It is recorded that Donal More O'Brien won a military victory here in 1192, presumably his target being the newly established settlement (Smyth 1991, 166-7; Nolan 1989, 12). The borough status of the town is clear from an early fourteenth-century reference (1336) to two knights' fees held as a burgage to the value of £22 17s 2d (Martin 1981, 51; Cal. inq. post mortem, 18) and almost a century later (1432) the reeve and community were summoned to the seneschal's court (Martin 1981, 51; Curtis 1933, 95).
It is unclear whether a stone wall was ever constructed around the town of Thurles and no physical remains of a town wall have yet been identified. A stone wall may have been constructed around the town in the second half of the fourteenth century when Thurles received a murage grant dated 1356-7 (Thomas 1992, vol. 2, 192). In this year the Chancery Rolls recorded a royal exemption on 'certain specified customs from articles for sale coming to that town' for a period of 20 years, 'to the town of Thurlys [Thurles] in aid of the paving [of that town] and its enclosure with a stone wall' (Patent Roll 30 Edward III, No. 43). A tentative line of the town wall was suggested by Thomas (1992, 193). The circuit of this proposed wall (area c. 7.5 ha) would only enclose the town of Thurles on the W side of the River Suir, leaving the E side of the town undefended. The wall may have ran parallel to the W bank of the River Suir for a length of c. 250m and then ran parallel to the main street towards 'Black Castle' (TN041-042001-) and the Anglo-Norman motte castle (TN041-042004-) which may have stood close to the NW angle of the town wall. Black Castle, Castle Avenue and Westgate Street may mark the W boundary of the town wall. However Westgate Street may be a reference to the gate of the bawn wall (TN041-042020-) belonging to Black Castle and not to a town wall entrance gate. A gateway may have been located on the E side of the town beside Barry's Bridge (TN041-042006-) and castle (TN041-042002-) where the modern road crosses the River Suir.
The Ordnance Survey Letters of 1840 describe a destroyed W gate as geata na gcoileach, they also mention a round building known as Crow's tower which stands at the town to the right of the road to Cashel (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 78). This tower may have been a mural tower associated with the town walls of Thurles (Carey and Farrelly 1994, 85-100).
There is no depiction of a town wall on either the Down Survey map of 1655-9 or Rocque's map of 1755 (NLI 16 I 3/9). It is not certain whether the town defences were of stone (Bradley 1985, 53) but there were gates at E, N and W that gave access to the town. Only the springing arch of the E gate survives protruding from Barry's Castle (TN041-042002-) - there is only the placename evidence for the W gate while there is no surviving evidence for a N gate.

See attached image of proposed/suggested line of town wall if it had been constructed around the town of Thurles, taken from The Walled Towns of Ireland (Thomas 1992, 192).

The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly and Hugh Carey

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 10 August 2018

References

Nolan, W. 1989 Thurles from a distance. In W. Corbett and W. Nolan (eds.), Thurles: the cathedral town, 1-29. Dublin. Geography Publications.

Martin, G. 1981 Plantation boroughs in medieval Ireland with a handlist of boroughs to c. 1500. In D. Harkness and M. O'Dowd (eds), The town in Ireland, 23-53. Belfast. Appletree Press.

Cal. inq. post mortem - Calendar of inquisitions post mortem (18 vols., London, 1904-87)

Bradley, J. 1985 (Reprint 1997) The medieval towns of Tipperary. In W. Nolan and T.G. McGrath (eds), Tipperary: History and Society, 34-59. Dublin. Geography Publications.

Empey, C.A. 1989 Medieval Thurles: origin and development. In W. Corbett and W. Nolan (eds), Thurles: the Cathedral Town, 31-40. Dublin. Geography Publications.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840. Bray.

Smyth, W.J. 1991 Towns and town life in mid-seventeenth century county Tipperary. Tipperary Historical Journal, 163-9.

Thomas, A. 1992 The walled towns of Ireland, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.

Curtis, E. (ed.) 1932 Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350 A.D. Vol. 1. Dublin. The Stationery Office.

Farrelly, J., and Carey, H. 1994 Urban archaeological survey - county Tipperary (North Riding) (2 vols.). Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.