OBriens Castle (Site of)

On low-lying ground on the S bank of the River Fergus. The main residence of the O’Brien kings of Thomond from the 13th to the 16th centuries began with an earthen stronghold (CL033-085006-) built by Conchobar Ó Briain c. AD 1267. An earlier earthen fortification (CL033-085005-) had been built on the N bank of the river in AD c. 1210 by Donnachad Cairprech Ó Briain. A tower house was built on the site probably c. 1470 (Ó Dálaigh 1987, 28) and by 1558 a large mansion (CL033-085002-) had been attached. The castle was besieged in 1600 and there is a record of the ‘great ould house’ being covered with slate or shingle in 1658. A sketch by Thomas Dineley in 1681 shows a large residence with a tower house, a six-bay mansion and a bawn surrounded by a curtain wall with an arched opening defended by a machicolation. No remains are visible on the ground although remnants were noted in the OS Letters in 1839 as being ‘indistinctly traceable’. Two adjacent bridges across the river (CL033-085003- and CL033-085004-) are known from the same 1681 sketch. A stone causeway linked the castle to the Franciscan Friary (CL033-082001-) 1km to the W in the centre of the town. In the 19th century a brewery and ‘Clonroad House’ were built on part of the same site. (Ó Dálaigh 2012, 12, 15) Compiled by: Mary Tunney See attached document with details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report). Uploaded courtesy of R. Ua Cróinín and M. Breen. Date of upload: 11 December 2014

Built by Conchobar Ó Briain in the early 13th century, O'Briens Castle served as the main residence of the O’Brien kings of Thomond from the 13th to the 16th centuries. It is important as a key seat of Gaelic lordship in Munster and a symbol of the power of the Ó Briain dynasty.