
What is recorded here
Crughwill Castle belonged to the O’Loughlins of Burren by 1574, standing on the northeast edge of a bawn now lost beneath a farmyard. Its name, An Crochaill, means the overhanging cliff, yet the castle sat in level pasture, suggesting the cliff may have been a ridge, a rock ledge or a memory rather than a visible wall. Stones taken before 1940 and again in the 1970s left no trace by 1999, but the yard may still hold the shape of the castle in its boundaries, drained ditches or buried mortar.
On the NE-edge of a large bawn (CL010-016001-) now a farmyard, in level pasture with a modern house to the E. Named ‘Castle (in ruins)’ on the 1840 and 1916 editions of the OS 6-inch map. Described by O’Donovan (1839) as ‘the Castle of Crughwill’ also known as ‘Kreagwill’ and ‘Criuchmhuil’ and ‘so injured that its ruins are not interesting’ (Comber 1997, 36). Recorded later by Westropp (1898-1900, 362) as fragmentary remains.
According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (1995, 60), the castle’s name derives from ‘An Crochaill - The Overhanging Cliff’ and the earliest known historical reference to it is from 1574 when it was recorded as being in the ownership the O’Loughlins of Burren. They also state that most of the castle was dismantled before 1940 to provide building stone locally but that, according to local information, a surviving portion (est. H c. 5m) with a square shaft within it (likely a garderobe) was removed in the 1970’s (op. cit.). No visible surface trace of the castle was recorded on a field inspection in 1999.
See attached document CL010-016----_01.jpg with details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report). Uploaded courtesy of R. Ua Cróinín and M. Breen.
Summary by: Gearóid Conroy and Lynda McCormack
Date of upload: 13 December 2022
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- What survives
- Recorded monument
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