Castle

National Monument No. 263. William Ó Fearghail (O’Farrell) is recorded as having built a ‘castle’ at Granard in 1405 (Ó hInnse 1947, 175). This castle was taken by English forces in 1420 who soon after abandoned it. The annals note that O’Farrell ‘demolished it for fear of their occupying it again’ (Ann. Conn., 455). A castle at Granard is mentioned in grants to Francis Shane in 1593 (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Eliz.) and in 1608 (Pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 499-500), and this is probably the same castle that is noted in the list of lands surrendered to the Crown in 1619 (ibid., 452). An early 17th-century map of Granard barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.i.47) depicts a castle standing on top of the hill at Granard in the area where the motte and bailey (LF010-080001-) are located. Some remains clearly survived into the 19th century as O’Donovan records: that ‘It is said that this moat was opened about fifty years ago, and that the arched vaults of a castle were found within it, built of beautiful square stones, which were well cemented with lime and sand mortar’ (AFM vol. 3, 388-9). The grass-covered remains of this castle can still be seen at the base of the SE side of the motte where a short stretch of walling, 2–3 courses high, has been recorded (Bradley et al. 1985, 18). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 April 2012

William Ó Fearghail (O’Farrell) built the castle at Granard in 1405; it was captured by English forces in 1420 but quickly abandoned. Its construction and brief military use reflect the ongoing tensions between Gaelic Irish lords and English authorities in medieval Ireland.