Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Castle - tower house
Ballydrinan (tubbrid Par.), County Tipperary South, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Ballydrinan (tubbrid Par.)
- County
- Tipperary South
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Ballydrinan Castle
- Latest-edition OS map
- Ballydrinan Castle (in Ruins)
- Coordinates
- 52.32101, -7.90716
- SMR number
- TS081-057----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Formerly situated on a fairly flat ridge which slopes off gently to the E, in rolling pasture. The Civil Survey (1654-6) describes 'the stump of a castle' in 'Ballydrenane' under the ownership of the 'Lord Baron of Cahyr Irish Papist' in 1640 (Simington 1931, vol.1, 367). The tower house (ext. dims. 9.4m N-S x 10.9m E-W; int. E-W 7.48m) was illegally demolished in 2000. It was constructed of limestone and sandstone rubble (wall T 1.7m-1.9m at base), well coursed, with a base-batter (2m H x 0.37m Wth) and clay foundation visible at the S end of the E wall. It had a barrel vault over the ground floor, springing from the N and S walls, and a wooden floor between the first and second floor, evidenced by four large beam-holes in the E wall. According to Salter (2004, 107) two inserted octagonal piers carried an arcade which in turn carried two slightly pointed vaults. When visited in 1997 it survived up to second-floor level, except the S wall and S end of the W wall which had collapsed. The N wall and surviving length of W wall were heavily overgrown with ivy. The ground floor was lit by a single-light window in the E wall, while the first floor was lit by a single-light window in the N wall and a broken-out window in the E wall. All windows were within straight-sided inner embrasures. The top of the E wall overhung internally. A garderobe chute at the N end of the W wall had been broken-out, the garderobe exiting at the base of the wall. There is now a large mound of rubble (dims. 20m x 10m; H 4-5m), the remains of the tower house, where it formerly stood.
Compiled by: Jean Farrelly
Date of upload: 14 January 2014
This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 3/2001).
References
Salter, M. 2004 The castles of North Munster. Worcestershire. Folly Publications.
Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1931 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol I: county of Tipperary: eastern and southern baronies. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.
Nearby in the register
- Churchunder 1 mi
- Ecclesiastical enclosureunder 1 mi
- Graveyardunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.