House - 16th century

The National Monuments Service's description

At the E end of town, E of Castle Street, on the N bank of the River Suir. In 1565 this tudor mansion was added to the existing tower house complex (TS085-004010-) by Thomas Butler or 'Black Tom', 10th Earl of Ormond (Fenlon 2008). The castle was captured by Cromwellian forces in 1650, only to come under attack again by Royalist forces under Inchiquin. The resulting damage was repaired by the 12th Earl in 1660. However, following this Earl's death the house was not used again as a Butler residence. It was rented out to tenants during the 18th and 19th centuries (Lanigan 1965, 31-7) and gradually fell into disrepair. The building eventually became the property of the State and was fully restored by the Office of Public Works. The 16th-century house is U-shaped, forming three sides of a courtyard, with a pre-existing tower house terminating each wing. According to Leask (1951, 145-7) and Waterman (1961, 252-3) the courtyard was fully enclosed, the fourth side being formed by the 'main front of an earlier castle with large terminal towers'. The S side of the courtyard is formed by a wall with central entrance which is in an architectural style in keeping with the house. The decorative false quoin plaster work around this entrance is in keeping with mid-late 16th/early 17th-century architectural fashions and there is also evidence of this type of plasterwork on the N angle of the main house. The house is two-storey with a multi-gabled attic and is one room wide. The long hall is decorated with oak panelling and stucco-work above this and on the ceiling. It contains two fireplaces, one with elaborate carvings with a date of 1565. Other chambers is the house have further examples of panelling and stucco-work (Fenlon 2008, 48-51). The house has limited defensive features, including shot-holes above and round the main door and cross gun-loops in the E projection. (Farrelly and FitzPatrick 1993, 17-18). These cross-loops were already present in the original 15th-century fabric of the castle.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of revised upload: 4 November 2014

References

Fenlon, J. 2008 (revised edition) Ormond Castle visitor's guide. Dublin. The Office of Public Works.

Lanigan, K. M. 1965 Ormonde Castle, Carrick-on-Suir. Old Kilkenny Review 17, 31-7.

Waterman, D.M. 1961 Some Irish seventeenth-century houses and their architectural ancestry. In E.M. Jope (ed.), Studies in building history, 251-74. London. Odhams.

Farrelly, J. and FitzPatrick, E. 1993 Urban archaeological survey - county Tipperary (South Riding) (2 vols.). Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

Leask, H.G. 1941 Irish castles and castellated houses. Dundalk. Dundalgan Press.