What is recorded here

Corbally Castle vanished before it was ever drawn, leaving behind only a moor, a hamlet and a warning that it sat badly. That absence is not a failure of research; it is the shape of the place. Rooms may have stood where grass still moves, and people may have leapt, worshipped or fled there. To find Corbally is not to pin a dot on a map but to stop wanting the world to be complete.

The precise location of Corbally Castle has not been identified. Westropp (1906-07, 149) recorded the following details about Corbally Castle; 'Circa 1215 Patents of John and Hen. III. refer to ten ploughlands and a hospital for "Leapers" at Corbally (Inq. Chan., 12b, Jas. I.). 1377 Tenements called Minster in Corbally granted for repair of the House of the Friars Preachers, Limerick (Close R., No. 20). 1583 C[astle]. at Courtbrack and an old C[astle]. which belonged to the said (Black) Abbey, and adjoins a hamlet called Corbally. It was "ruinous and badly situated on the lower part of a certain moor," and held by G., Earl of Desmond (Des. R., 7 ; Inq. Exch., 11). C[astle]. granted, 1586, to Earl of Thomond (C.S.P.L, p. 311). 1589 To Rob. Anstey (Fi. 5347). 1600 By Jas. Gould, at his death T. Gould and Phil. Field enfeoffed Edm. England in it (Inq. Chan., 13a). 1618 A. macDermod O'Brien and M. Bourk, his wife, enfeoffed W. Creagh f. Martin in hamlets of Caherkeilgeneragh and Corbally (Inq. Chan., Car. I., 23). 1621 Sir W. Parsons got it (Pat. R.). Not to be confused with the north-eastern Corbally, near Limerick'. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 20 November 2020

Built in the early 13th century, Corbally Castle is associated with land grants under King John and Henry III, reflecting the expansion of Anglo-Norman influence in Ireland during that period. Its mention in royal patents highlights its role in the feudal administration of the region.

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