Cloondooan Castle (in ruins) — Rockvale

Situated on the N perimeter of a bawn (CL011-007002-) at the N end of a NNE-SSW oriented rocky ridge (L c. 40m) overlooking a generally flat low-lying semi-karstic area and Lough Bunny c. 320m to the S. Named ‘Cloondooan Castle (in ruins)’ on the 1842 and 1920 eds. of the OS 6-inch map. Situated on the Corofin-Gort road (Bealach-an-Fiadhfhail / Bealach Fiodhfail in medieval records) (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997; Healy 1998, 65). A stronghold of the O’Brien family, in 1569 Cloondooan (Cluain Dubhain) castle was laid siege to and captured by British Lord Justice Sir Henry Sidney (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). In 1580 Mahon O’Brien of Cloondooan led an insurrection against the British, for which he was pardoned. However, he died in 1586, during a siege of the castle led by Sir Richard Bingham, who then demolished the castle (ibid.). The castle lands then changed hands several times, until being seized by Turlough O’Brien in 1599. There is a local story of an Irish flag was being flown from the castle in 1917, until being removed by the RIC (ibid.). The castle ruins were damaged by storms in 1990. Only the N wall and adjoining sections of the E and W walls of this four-storey tower house survive, with a mezzanine over the second floor. The structure is built of limestone blocks set in mortared erratic courses (ibid.) with fine quoins (robbed at the base of the NE corner). The walls have a base batter. The N wall (H 21m; L 8.1m) survives to its full height including the gable and part of the surrounding parapet (ibid.), and is oriented ESE-WNW. The adjoining sections (L c. 4m) of the E and W walls also partly survive, broken along the lines of their loops (ibid.). The walls are progressively narrower by c. 0.3m on each floor. The entrance cannot be recognised, so it must have been in the S wall or an adjacent section of either the E or W wall. The ground floor had narrow loops (ext. Wth 0.05m) and double-splay embrasures in each surviving wall (ibid.), those at E and W with round arches and wicker centring and that at N with a flat arch and plank centring. The top of the N wall window (embrasure Wth 2.05m; H 1.4m) is destroyed but this appears to have been a plain rectangular light. The ingoings are not symmetrical, with the window being located toward the E edge of the embrasure. There is a N-S vault over the ground floor with wicker centring. The first floor has a flat arch with plank centring in the N wall, incorporating a slightly recessed ogee-headed light (ibid.). Embrasures in the E and W walls have been filled in. There is a slit in the N wall to support the floor above. Two ceiling corbels are missing in the E and the W walls. There is an aumbry in the E wall. On the second floor there is a flat arch embrasure in the N wall, with an ogee-headed light. As on the floor below, embrasures in the E and W walls are partly filled in. The W embrasure has an ogee-headed window. On the second-floor mezzanine a rectangular doorway in the N wall is supported on a corbel table of four stones (one missing). This doorway leads to a probable garderobe in the NE corner, with a rectangular light in its N wall. The doorway is set into the scar of a N-S oriented vault, in which are the remains of an arched doorway leading to a chamber or oubliette with its own window within the E wall. This may have been a lock-up chamber, only reachable by a ladder from the 2nd floor (ibid.). The third floor (solar) rests on the second-floor mezzanine vault. A corbel table in the walls at ceiling level carries the wall-walk in over the ceiling all around. There is a round-arched splayed embrasure in the N wall, which has a fine double ogee-headed window with intact mullion and hollow spandrels. There are also aumbrys in the N and W walls (ibid.). The edges of wall embrasures survive in the E and W walls. A gable rises over the inner edge of the N wall, allowing room for the wall-walk outside. The string course of the parapet is visible, with numerous drain-holes above it (ibid.). The ground in the tower house interior is covered by a pile of rubble which spills off the rock outcrop ridge to E and W. The following items have been uploaded: CL011-007003-_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. CL011-007003-_01.jpg View of exterior of tower house from NE CL011-007003-_02.jpg View of interior from SW CL011-007003-_03.jpg View of upper floor from NE Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 18 January 2023 Healy, J. 1998 Castles or tower houses. In Brew, F., The Parish of Kilkeedy: a local history, 65-69. Privately published. Tubber.