Ornamental canal or lake in Mitchelstown

Ornamental canal, built c. 1780, in demesne of now demolished Mitchelstown Castle. Comprises major western water body and minor eastern water body, having inflow from west. Both parts largely overgrown, with earthen banking especially evident at west end.

Ornamental canals are a feature of larger seventeenth and eighteenth-century demesnes. They provided variety to the formal landscape and in this case, provided ice for the nearby icehouse. Although now overgrown, this example at Mitchelstown is intact and provides a focal point when viewed from the north and west along the town's bypass.