Carrigogunnell Castle

The recorded builders and holders of Carrigogunnell Castle place it within the changes in power described by the exact account. The source presents this as tradition or interpretation rather than settled fact: no record remains for over a century; then a branch of the O'Briens seems to have crossed the Shannon, settled there, and overspread the old Norman Manor of Esclon, and southward, up the Maigue, their territory being represented by the barony and name of Pubblebrian; this is said to have been about 1336, but their chief's ancestor of the later Briens of Carrigogunnell, Tadhg na Glenore (O'Brien), was King of Thomond in 1426, and it seems doubtful whether his descendants obtained the place and built the castle much before 1450. The source presents this as tradition or interpretation rather than settled fact: the Crown claimed the castle, apparently on the unfounded statement that the O'Briens held from "Lord Clerre", probably Richard de Clare, whose lands had reverted to the Crown.

The attacks, changes and later uses of Carrigogunnell Castle show what happened here rather than assuming that every castle saw a siege. Grey was about to give it to one Donoth O'Bryne, ignoring his promise, when by a plot of Edmond Sexton and his wife (as their enemies alleged, but Grey acquitted them) it was put back into the hands of "Matthew's" warder; it was then attacked, and one of its towers was taken on the night of 22 August; the keep surrendered next morning, and Edmond Cahill, the warder, and all its garrison were brought to Limerick, tried and hanged. During the second siege of Limerick of the Williamite War in Ireland, the castle was occupied by a force of 150 men for King James II.

The surviving parts of Carrigogunnell Castle are separated from work that was lost, rebuilt or only reported in older accounts. The castle is built on outcrop trap rock of volcanic origin that overlooks the low lands of County Limerick, and the River Shannon. The inner (upper) ward was inset in the NW corner of the castle, with a 100 feet (30 m) range of two story buildings along the west wall, showing at least two periods of construction; there was a keep in the northwestmost corner; a range of accommodation adjacent to it to the east; and a tower and staircase on the south side.

Carrigogunnell Castle matters because its exact story preserves evidence for a wider change in Limerick, not merely because the name sounds historic. The castle is first named in 1209, when Carrac Ui Conaing was granted to Donnchad Cairbreach, King of Thomond. In 1536 Leonard Grey, 1st Viscount Grane and Lord Deputy, described it as a very strong castle standing on a high rock and as "the key of all the county."