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Clonbuogh Castle (in ruins)

Castle, tower house
Clonbuogh Castle (in ruins)
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What is recorded here

Clonbuogh Castle stands as a ruined tower house on a low rock rise in Tipperary, belonging to the Viscount of Ikerrin by ancestral descent when surveyed in 1654. Its limestone walls still hold two storeys of a small rectangular chamber, though the spiral stairs and barrel vault have surrendered to time. The Civil Survey called it a stumpe without repair, suggesting the family had stopped fighting the weather long before the stones collapsed.
Situated on a low rise of rock outcrop in undulating countryside with a nearby church (TN030-002-) to the W and earthworks, identified on an aerial photograph taken in 1968 (CUCAP, AVT 59), to the S, W and NW of the tower house. The Civil Survey of 1654 describes a 'stumpe of a castle without repayre' and 'Piers Lord Viscount Ikerine Irish Papist' is listed as proprietor (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 20). The proprietor at this time was Lord Viscount of Ikerrin who, it is stated, had the lands and castle in fee, by descent from his ancestors (Stout 1984, 130-31). The OS Letters describe the building as a square castle with a round tower at the SW (NW) angle and part of a square tower at the NE (SE) angle with a doorway on the N wall near the round tower (int. dim. 7ft (2.13m)) which contained destroyed spiral stairs (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 87-8). The poorly preserved remains of a small rectangular castle (ext. dims. 14m NW-SE; 8m NE-SW; wall T 1.4m) built with roughly coursed limestone rubble with base-batter. The walls survive two storeys high with only the wall-footings visible at the NW angle. There was a barrel vault (now destroyed) over ground floor and a single-light window (also destroyed) in the centre of the SE wall set into a segmental-arched embrasure. A tower projects from the SE angle of the castle with possible jambstones of an external door accessing the tower in the SE wall. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
No visible remains or recorded as destroyed

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