Ballyquirke castle (in ruins)

Situated on natural rock outcrop on a slight NW-facing slope in undulating countryside. The Calendar of Ormond Deeds, dated 1547-84, refers to a land grant by Thomas Earl of Ormond to Bryen O'Kennedy of Lackyne of the towns and castles of Ballyquirke and Laghensy in Ormond (Curtis 1945, 310). Described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as 'ye castle of Ballyquirke the walls only standing' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 317). 'The Countess of Ormond' is listed as proprietor (ibid.). A four-storey tower house (ext. dims. 12.2m N-S; 10.3m E-W; wall T 2.2m) constructed with roughly coursed limestone rubble with chamfered, punch-dressed quoins and slight base-batter. The E wall from first floor upwards has collapsed, the rubble of which is piled up against the E wall obscuring the two-centred doorway located off-centre to the N. This doorway gives access to a lobby which was protected by a murder-hole overhead (now blocked up). The guardroom in the NE angle was accessed off the lobby as were the mural stairs to the SE giving access to first-floor level. The main ground-floor chamber was accessed through a two-centred doorway off the lobby. It is lit by narrow round-headed slit windows set in segmental-arched embrasures with wicker-centring in the centre of the N and S walls. There are timber floor joists in situ over the ground floor, the interior of which is covered in rubble infill. An inserted fireplace in the centre of the W wall may be contemporary with the floor joists which appear to be of eighteenth/nineteenth-century date. The second-floor chamber was accessed from the SE angle which is now destroyed. The floor joists were carried on a wall-plate which was supported on large corbels unlike at ground-floor level where the floor joists sat into the wall without support. A nineteenth-century sash window was inserted into the centre of the N wall at second-floor level, probably contemporary with other insertions. The third floor has a barrel-vaulted roof orientated on a N-S axis and was accessed through a two-centred doorway in the centre of the S wall. The fine punch-dressed limestone doorways are possibly of sixteenth-century date. No windows survive intact. A small lean-to structure built up against the base of the N wall may have acted as a storage area. According to a local landowner the tower house was used for making cider in the nineteenth century. 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. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008

Ballyquirke Castle was likely held by the O'Kennedy family in the 16th century, as indicated by a land grant reference in the Calendar of Ormond Deeds (1547–84). It is remembered for its association with the Gaelic nobility of the region during the period of English colonial administration in Ireland.