Ballyporty Castle (in ruins) / Tower — Ballyportry South

Surrounded by a very small 17th-century bawn (CL017-084001-) on a slight rise in level rough pasture, with a possibly associated enclosure (CL017-084003-) immediately to the SW of the bawn, and the remains of a possible cashel (CL017-084004-) just beyond this to the SW. Drawn and named ‘Ballyportry Castle (in ruins)’ and ‘Tower’ on the first edition (1842) of the OS 6-inch map but with the label ‘Tower’ omitted from the later OS 25-inch plan (1897) and Cassini edition (1920) of the OS 6-inch map. According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (1994, 24), this tower house was probably built in the late 15th or early 16th century by the O’Briens of Leamaneh, with the earliest historical mention possibly being a reference to the death in 1570 of Toirleach son of Donnchadh O’Brien of Ballyportry (ibid.). The tower house was described as ‘almost entire’ in 1580, when it was inhabited by Mathún son of Brian O’Brien (ibid.). After inheriting Ballyportry Castle in 1639, Conor O’Brien of Leamaneh and Máire Rua Ní Mhathúna let it to John Brickdall. Following the Cromwellian invasion (1649-1653) the castle was given to English parliamentarian Benjamin Lucas, but in 1663 it was returned to Conor and Máire’s son Donough (Sir Donat) O’Brien. He may have carried out repairs, as a letter of his in 1697 mentions ‘timber to be purchased for Ballyportry and Lemenagh’ (ibid.). In 1728 the castle was mortgaged to an Englishman, Richard Hull, after whose death in 1775, it passed to Edmond Sexton Pery, speaker of the Irish House of Commons. It appears the castle was still inhabited in 1808 (ibid.). The OS Letters of 1839 described the castle (also named ‘Ballycortrea’ and ‘Baile Puirt Riag’) as with walls that were ‘entire still and afford shelter to a poor family’ (Comber 1997, 16). By 1899 the castle was only occasionally occupied by ‘travelling tinkers’ (Westropp 1899-1901, 361). The castle was rennovated in the 1960s, subsequently changed hands and is currently let to holidaymakers.   This rectangular tower house (c. 14m NE-SW; c. 8m NW-SE; H c. 21m; H to top of chimney stack c. 24m) comprises a ‘services tower’ (of five levels) on the NE, conjoined with a ‘living tower’ (of four and half levels) on the SW. The services tower appears to have been built first: the tower house was built originally without garderobes (with slop-stones in the services tower used instead) or fireplaces - all of which were inserted later. The pointed arched entrance doorway with yett is located at the centre of the NE gable wall and appears to have been reset during the 1960s renovations. The doorway is protected by a single machicoulis at the top of the tower (i.e., at wall-walk level), a shot-hole on either side of the doorway (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997), and a murder-hole in the lobby ceiling just inside. Entering the building, there is a guardroom/porter’s lodge (2.3m NE-SW; 1.8m NW-SE) on the right (NW), with a cupboard in the W corner. The room was lit by a loop in the NE gable wall which has been reduced in modern times to a small square window, and has a stone-vaulted ceiling (ibid.). Opposite this room is a circular stairwell (diam. c. 2.2m) in the E corner of the tower house, with a small storage space (L 1.5m; Wth 1m) underneath—probably a modern insertion (ibid.). The main ground-floor room (8.5m NE-SW; 4.6m NW-SE) is now a kitchen. In the NW wall is a large 17th-century fireplace which is a modern insertion blocking an original light in the NW wall. There are two alcoves apiece in the W and S angles of the room, and non-original rectangular three-light windows which have been inserted in both the SW and SE walls may have replaced an original pair of long narrow loopholes (ibid.). A slop-stone (blocked on the exterior) is visible in the SE wall, near the E corner of this room. Corbels on the NW and SE walls support the floor of a loft/gallery under the room’s high pointed stone vaulted ceiling, orientated NE-SW (ibid.). A lintelled doorway leads off the spiral stairs to the loft, several steps above which a pointed doorway leads to the room commanding the murder-hole. There is a small light in the NW wall of this room, and a round-headed light in the NE wall, both with spudstones; there is also a slop-stone on the NE wall. The room is floored with oak planks resting on wall plates on stone corbels (ibid.).   A pointed doorway leads from the spiral stairs to the first floor, past a modern bathroom at the NE end which is separated from the main room by a non-original wall. The main bedroom is on this floor with a stone bath set in an enlarged embrasure in the SE wall. A pair of triple-light windows in the SW and SE walls and a stone fireplace in the NW wall probably replaced loopholes. There are four corbels in this wall to support the ceiling. At the S end of the SE wall and E end of the SW wall there are wall paintings including a depiction of St. Sebastian (Morton 2004, 342; 2006, 63-4). There are two cupboards in each corner of the SW wall.    The second floor is also accessed through a pointed doorway from the spiral stairs, leading to a room which now serves as a kitchenette. There is an ogee-headed window in the NW wall and a round-headed window in the NE wall. The wooden ceiling is supported on corbels. An inserted pointed doorway in the room’s SW wall leads to a large chamber with a triple-light ogee-headed window in the SE and SW walls. The round-headed embrasure for the SE window has mason’s marks (small carved triangles on the vousoirs and a cross on the keystone). There is a narrow loop in the centre of the NW wall, beside an inserted 17th-century fireplace. In the E corner of the hall is an elaborate slop-stone. The chamber is covered by a pointed stone vault, with a stone arch (Wth 1.6m) against the NE wall to support a garderobe chamber above. The upper part of the hall’s SW wall corbels in, creating vaulting over the SW end (L c. 3m) of the hall and leaving a space (L 2m; Wth 0.8m) for a mural passage accessed by a small rectangular opening which presumably can only be reached by a ladder from the floor of the hall. The door rebate is on the hall side of the opening, leading to the suggestion that the mural passage was a lock-up chamber for prisoners (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997; Ben Murtagh, pers. comm.). There is an ogee-headed light in the SW wall of this passage, opposite the opening. The passage may continue into the NW wall, but probably it ran only within the SW wall (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997).    The spiral stairs lead up to a lintelled doorway opening into a garderobe passage, which has small windows in the NW and NE walls and is now fitted with a stone bath beside a loop embrasure in the SE wall. The passage has a modern wickerwork barrel-vaulted ceiling. The garderobe shaft (at the N centre of the NW wall) is now closed up but there is a curious shelf- or serving hatch-like feature in the NW wall of this room, consisting of two corbels at waist height with a rectangular opening above.   The third floor’s main chamber is under a very fine oak-timbered roof. Springing from the NW and SE walls toward the SW end is a high semi-circular arch which supports an additional level above. The arch also supports a vault leaning from the SW wall. There are two cupboards and an angle loop apiece in the hall’s S and W corners. There are two narrow loops in the SE wall with a double-light window between. In the SW and NW walls is a loop in a splayed embrasure; that in the NW wall beside a large lintelled and hooded fireplace. At the NE end and overlooking the chamber is a wooden gallery supported on stone corbels; this gallery is accessed through a doorway from the spiral stairs. These stairs continue up to the roof-rafters and through a small doorway on the NE gable-wall, onto the wall-walk which accesses the machicoulis over the entrance doorway at NE. The parapet has been restored with stepped crenellations. The structure is roofed with large Killaloe slates and a large modern chimney on the NW side rises well over the parapet. There is an additional level at the SW side of the building—which is unusual as such superstructures are typically found over the ‘services’ end of tower houses. During an inspection in 1999 there was no access to this additional level, but there is a doorway to it from the SE parapet, leading to a low barrel-vaulted room (Ua Croinin and Breen 1997). A sheela-na-gig (CL017-084005-; CL033-191----) was found in a field c. 300 yards to the W of the castle, from which it may have been removed (Gleeson 1943).   See also: https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/20401714/ballyportry-castle-ballyportry-south-clare   Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott    Date of upload: 14-10-2025