Castle

According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 371), ‘The castle of Dunfert [Danesfort] was built between 1382 and 1405 by James, 3rd Earl of Ormond. Its site is still pointed out close to Danesfort Ho., the now dilapidated mansion of the Wemysses’. It is depicted as a substantial, probably multi-period, castle on the Down Survey barony map of Sheelogher/‘Sheelelogher’ (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin; http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/down-survey-maps.php#bm=Sheelogher&c=Kilkenny). The castle is mentioned in the Ormond Deeds (Curtis 1941, vol. 5, deed 201, 221-2), an indenture dated March 7, 1571/2 between Sir Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond and William Sheeth where the former grants the castle of the manor of Donfert to William, ‘in the same manner as the late tenants Patrick Lahy and Sir James Doyll held the same, for 21 years for annual payment of 35 bushels of corn of Kilkenny measure, half of wheat and half of oats and ‘berre’ malt, payable at Kilkenny or Kells’. The castle is not indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map and, while likely to be located in the vicinity of the former Danesfort House, its precise location in unknown. See attached: KK023-104----_01 Extract from Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Sheelogher/‘Sheelelogher’ (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin) Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 8 September 2021

James, 3rd Earl of Ormond, built Castle, unclassified in Danesfort between 1382 and 1405; it is remembered as part of the medieval defensive and administrative network in the region, associated with the influential Butler family.