Site of Binroe Castle — Ballymahony

On a high NE–SW prominence extending from the S edge of the Ballymahony plateau. Ground falls steeply to S and E, and less so to N. Depicted on the 1842 ed. of the OS 6-inch map as a small circular area (diam. c. 15m) defined by a broken line and labelled ‘Site of Binroe Castle’. On the 1897 OS 25-inch plan and 1920 ed. of the OS 6-inch map it is shown as a roughly circular hachured mound. Labelled ‘Caisleán na Binne Rua - Binroe Caste site (Ó Lochlainn)’ on Robinson’s map (1977), a name which is translated in the OS Letters (1839) as ‘Castle of the Red Pinnacle’ (Comber 1997, 61). Situated within the territory of the O’Loughlins, this castle may have been named as “Beaneoroe” in the list of 1574. However, there is some uncertainty around its ownership, and the castle appears to have changed hands among the O’Loughlins, O’Briens and O’Flanagans in the late 16th and early 17th centuries (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). The O’Briens retained it after the 1641 rebellion, leasing it to various tenants through to the mid-18th century (ibid.). The castle was still in existence in 1787, when it was shown on Pelham’s Grand Jury map; it was also included in Dutton’s survey of 1808. However, by 1837 Lewis (1837, vol. 2, 445) and by 1839 O’Donovan (Comber 1997, 61) recorded it as a ruin. Westropp (1915, 49) described ‘a heap of fallen masonry, once Binroe castle, near a bad, but ancient road, to Cahermacnaughten.’ A grass-covered rubble mound (20.7m E–W; c. 10m N–S; H 0.8–c. 5m) with an E–W ridge (L 6.5m) at its top. Immediately to the SW of the rubble mound there is a rock-cut fosse (L 20.3m; Wth 3–7m; D 1.2–1.7m), extending NW–SE through the ridge of high ground between this promontory and the plateau. There are three architectural fragments within the fosse: a square-cut and hammer-dressed stone (L 0.6m; Wth 0.3m; D 0.2m); a jambstone (H 0.3m; Wth 0.4m; D c. 0.3m) with chamfer (Wth 0.14m) and rebate (Wth 0.1m; D 0.07m) and a curved stone (L 0.6–0.84m; Wth 0.17m; D 0.1–0.15m) from the head of a doorway. Foundations of buildings lie at the E base of the mound (CL009-014004-) and 7m to the W of the fosse (CL009-014001-). The following item has been uploaded: CL009-014002-_01.pdf Details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report).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. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 27 October 2021