Clonmore Castle (in ruins)

Small, ivy-clad two storey tower house (10.5m E-W, 8m N-S, Wall T.1.6m) built with roughly coursed limestone blocks. Base batter partly robbed,first floor carried on wooden beams, windows of first floor level have rounded splays with small slit opes and window seats. Wall-walk level and evidence of angle tower possibly a garderobe tower at NW angle. Doorway with rounded segmental arch in E end of N wall. Low circular earthwork enclosing tower house to N and W may be remains of a levelled bawn wall (OF004-010001-). In undulating grassland beside the Edenderry and Castlejordan road. Poorly preserved small rectangular ivy clad tower (ext. dims. 8m N-S; 10.5m E-W; wall T 1.6m) two storeys high with base batter now partly robbed. Traces of battlements just visible through the ivy on the W wall and to a lesser extent on the E wall. Possible bawn wall attached to NW angle and extending northwards at foundation level only. No barrel vault present, first floor carried on thickness of wall with wooden beams. At centre of W wall is a roughly rectangular shaped opening. Doorway with mounted segmental arch in E end of N wall with bolt hole in centre of W jamb. Windows at first floor have rounded splays with small slit opes and window seats. At SW angle are the remains of an angle tower of which only the foundations and tie stones survive. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

Clonmore Castle is a 16th-century tower house, likely built by a local Gaelic family or minor Anglo-Irish landholder. Its survival as a ruin provides insight into early defensive architecture in the region.