Smithstown Castle (in ruins) — Smithstown (corcomroe By.)

On a high rocky outcrop within a loop in the Smithstown River (c. 25m to the E; c. 85m to the S), accessed by a straight avenue (110m NNW-SSE) to the N that joins a minor road leading E to Kilfenora. Indicated and named ‘Smithstown Castle (in ruins)’ on the 1840 6-inch OS map and ‘Smithstown or Ballynagowan Castle (in ruins)’ on the 1916 ed. Depicted c. 90m E of, and within the demesne of, ‘Smithstown House’, a T-plan house with outbuildings to the rear, that has since been demolished. The castle is first mentioned in 1551, when it was willed by Murrough O’Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond and 1st Baron of Inchiquin, to his son Teige (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997; Mac Mahon 1990, 29). The 1570 castle list notes that Smithtown Castle was owned by Turlough O’Brien of Fomerla, younger brother of the Earl of Thomond. Evidence suggests that it was the residence of Teige son of Murrough O’Brien, sheriff of Co. Clare in 1570, and he is noted as the owner in 1574. Teige’s son Turlough inherited the castle and died there in 1584. The castle passed to his three daughters Honoria, Slaney and Aney. In 1612, Honoria and her husband, Richard Wingfield (ancestor of the Lords Powerscourt), were in possession of the castle. Honoria continued to occupy the castle after her husband’s death in c. 1615, and in her will of 1650, she left it to her grandson Conor O’Brien of Leamenagh (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). A family conflict over ownership of the castle followed Conor’s death in 1651. The castle was garrisoned by Cromwellian troops in 1652. It was held by the O’Brien and Wingfield families in the second half of the 17th century (ibid. 1997), and it remained the property of the Wingfield family into the 19th century (Mac Mahon 1990, 30). Taylor and Skinner (1778, 205) noted the site as belonging to ‘Vist. Powerscourt’ and Lewis (1837, Vol. 2, 335) reported ‘at Smithstown, a seat of Viscount Powerscourt, are the ruins of an ancient castle’. According to Eugene Curry in the OS Letters c. 1839 (Comber 1997, 99) the castle was ‘inhabited within the last forty years’. Westropp (1910, 148) described it as ‘a low plain tower’, and remarked that ‘the large house that adjoined the castle has been destroyed, leaving as its most definite evidence, the weather line of its roof on the castle wall’. A rectangular tower house (8.2m N-S; 12.2m E-W) surviving to four stories, vaulted over the first and third floors, with evidence for a fifth floor under the roof. The walls are built of erratic courses of limestone with base batter. The floor plan is largely consistent throughout with a large chamber occupying the W two-thirds of the building, a small chamber in the NE corner and a spiral stair in the SE corner. A garderobe passage is found at first-floor level parallel to the arched stone vault. The walls (T at first-floor level 1.2-1.85m) are composed of roughly coursed mortared limestone rubble and are battered around the base. The imprint of the roofline of a now-demolished attached house is visible on the S gable. Sixteen cut-stone single-light windows survive in the building, seven in the E face, three in the S face, two in the W face and four in the N face. They include round-headed, flat-headed and ogee-headed examples. Two loops with foliate patterns in the spandrels can be seen in the W and E walls. The tower house is accessed via a cut-stone pointed-arch doorway in the E wall; there is no murder-hole. The door leads to a lobby (4m E-W; 1.2m N-S) with a spiral stair to the S (diam. 2m), a small chamber (2.75m E-W; 1.5m N-S) to the N and a larger chamber to the W. The main ground-floor chamber (c. 4.65m N-S; 6.6m E-W) has aumbries in the SW and NW corners. There is a robbed-out window of unclear character in the W wall and door-sized breaches in the N and S walls. The S breach would have provided access to the now-demolished house appended to the W of the tower house. The small NE chamber (c. 2.75m E-W; 1.5m N-S) has an aumbry in its NW corner and a single light in its E wall and an arched stone roof. At first-floor level, the stair led to a small chamber to the NE (2.7m E-W; 3.5m N-S) and to a lintelled passage (5.2m N-S; 1.2m E-W) leading to the garderobe (2.8m E-W; 1.2m N-S) to the N. A lintelled doorway midway along the garderobe passage gave access to a first-floor chamber (5.15m E-W; 3.75m N-S) beneath the E-W stone vault. The small chamber was lit by loops in its N and W walls (Wth 0.15m) and had an aumbry in its SW corner. The large first-floor chamber had a loop (Wth 0.15m) in its W wall. The garderobe passage was lit by loops (Wth 0.1m) in its N and S walls and had an aumbry in its W wall adjacent to the garderobe shaft within the N wall of the building. A breach in the S wall of the stairwell at first-floor level provided access to the adjoining now-demolished house. At second-floor level the stair led to a small chamber to the N (3.4m N-S; 2.7m E-W) and a larger chamber to the W (6.97m E-W; 5.2m N-S). The small chamber was lit by loops in its N and E walls with a third loop in the NE corner. The chamber also had an aumbry in its SW corner. The large chamber, identified by Ua Cróinín and Breen as the hall, was lit by windows in its S, W and N walls with a loop in the NW corner with a pair of small shot-holes at each side. A cut-stone fireplace is present in the S wall flanked by an aumbry to the W. The fireplace has a simple mantle and a low canopy resting on a pair of angular corbels. At third-floor level the stair led to a small chamber to the N (2.7m E-W; 3.6m N-S) and a larger chamber to the W (6.5m E-W; 5.2m N-S). The small chamber was lit by loops in its N and W walls with aumbries in its W and S walls. The larger chamber had a wooden floor and was lit by a single loop in the W wall (Wth 0.15m) flanked by a pair of aumbries. The castle was renovated in late 1990s. The following item has been uploaded: CL015-034002-_01.jpg 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. References: MacMahon, M. 1990 Along the Deeley River: Kilshanny and its neighbourhood. The Other Clare 14, 27-30. Westropp, T.J. 1910 Notes on the antiquities around Kilfenora and Lehinch, Co. Clare, part III. North Munster Archaeological Society 1, 147-59. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell Date of upload: 4 July 2023