Ballyshanny Castle (in Ruins) — Ballyshanny

Situated to SW of centre in an earlier cashel (CL009-093001-) in pasture within a large multiperiod field system (CL009-059001-). First mentioned in 1574, when it was probably a residence of a 'cadet branch' of the O'Brien family (FitzPatrick 2009, 302) but by 1585 it was in the ownership of Daniel O'Shanny, Dean of Kilfenora (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). After the 1641 rebellion, the tower house and lands were handed over to Timothy and Cornelius MacDonough but, apparently, by 1678 the MacDonoughs were no longer living here. In 1839 Eugene O'Curry found the building in ruins (Comber 1997, 90). Only the E-portion of this small tower house is upstanding, to the second floor-level (H c. 10m). The well-built walls of coursed limestone stand on a low limestone platform but are undermined. At ground floor-level, the entire E wall (L 6.45m; T 1.37m) survives, along with the E ends of both the S wall (L 5.4m; T 1.5m) and N wall (L 2.9m; T 0.7m). The foundation line of the N wall can be traced further W (est. total traceable L 6.8m). The doorway must have been either in the levelled W wall or at the W end of the surviving S wall where a straight edged masonry line is visible in the wall foundation course. There is a broken-out embrasure in the E wall, with wicker centring in its flat arch. There is a garderobe chute aperture (Wth 0.69m) in the outer face of the S wall. In the rubble-filled (H c. 1.5m) interior there is part of a vault, oriented E-W, with wicker centring. Evidence of a loft includes corbels on the N and S inner wall-faces, and beam holes in the E wall. At first floor-level, an intramural passage is visible in the NE angle, accessed via lintelled doorways as each end. In the N wall is a tall, ogee-headed window which is punch-dressed, while in the E wall there is a smaller ogee-headed window with plain spandrels. A corbel projecting from the outer face of the E wall may be a support for an external chimney flue, since lost. When surveyed in 1995, Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997; see attached) noted three corbels on the exterior SE corner at this level, to support a machicolation. At second floor-level, only the NE angle survives. In the N wall there is a small ogee-headed window, its spandrels decorated with foliate patterns. See attached .pdf document with details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (1997, unpublished report). Uploaded courtesy of R. Ua Cróinín and M. Breen. References Comber, M. (ed.) 1997 The antiquities of County Clare, John O’Donovan and Eugene Curry: Ordnance Survey Letters 1839. Ennis. Clasp Press. FitzPatrick, E. 2009 Native enclosed settlement and the problem of the ‘Irish Ringfort’. Medieval Archaeology 53, 271-307. Ua Cróinín R. and Breen M. 1997 The castles and tower-houses of Co. Clare, 6 vols. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 12 August 2022