Dromore Castle (in ruins) — Dromore (inchiquin By.)

Situated in a natural deciduous wood on what was once a small island at the NE end of Dromore Lake. The area is connected to the N and S shores by causeways, that to the S being a modern concrete construction leading to a carpark. Dromore castle was probably built in the 16th century. An inscription on a stone plaque over the front door reads ‘This castle was built by Teige, second son to Connor, third earl of Thomond, and by Slany Brien, wife to the said Teige Anno D….’. The full date does not survive but the castle is known to have been granted to Teige’s father at an inquisition in Ennis in 1589 (Frost 1893, 273). Slany, Teige’s wife, was also an O’Brien, being one of the three daughters of Teige O’Brien of Smithstown Castle near Kilfenora. Teige and Slany lived at Dromore for most of their lives and had three sons and a daughter. In 1599 when O’Donnell marched south to invade Connaught and Clare to punish Donough (Teige’s brother) for his support of the English, it was Teige who guided and advised O’Donnell. Teige’s three son’s names appear as insurgents at the siege of Ballyalla castle in 1642. The last O’Brien at the castle was Conor, who left in 1689. The castle fell into ruin in the 18th century. Only the E wall with stairwell and smaller chambers and parts of the adjacent N and S walls of the three-storey tower house survive (ext. dims. 12.7m E-W; 9.54m N-S; H to wall-walk 11.2m). It is built of roughly coursed limestone with base batter and has rounded corners at the NE and SE angles. The castle was entered through a pointed doorway (Wth 1.02m) at the centre of the E wall. The doorway has an outer rebate and guide-holes for a yett in both jambs. There is a blocked bar-hole inside the N jamb and beneath it is a shallow catch for a latch. The S jamb has panels of hatched decoration. The doorway gives access to a passage (2.92m E-W; 1.04m N-S) on the S side of which is a pointed doorway (Wth 0.6m; H 1.56m; T 0.6m) leading to a small guard room (2.2m E-W; 2.05m N-S) with a light in the S wall and a small cupboard in the W wall. There is a squint in the NE corner overlooking the main entrance. An opening (Wth 1.4m) at the W end of the entrance passage leading to the main ground floor chamber is now blocked up. Only the E end of the main chamber survives with a short E-W barrel vault (L 1.5m) supported on corbel tables in the N and S walls. The vault was limited to this area. The N wall (T 2.5m) has a rectangular embrasure with a flat arch and wicker centring and a double-splay round-headed light; W of this embrasure there is just the fragment of a second embrasure. The S wall (T 2.75m), consists of a 1.25m outer skin and an inner pillar which may form one side of an embrasure. The W end of the S wall is largely a re-build. The W wall of the tower is represented at S only by two upright cut stones (H 0.8m) placed 0.7m apart which look like the jambs of a doorway, but these stones are undoubtedly re-set. On the N side of the entrance passage a lintelled doorway gives access to the stairs which occupies a large part of the tower. There is a round-headed light with a hanging eye and spud stone on the N wall, and a rectangular light on the E wall. A pointed doorway leads into a rectangular mezzanine (4m N-S; 2.4m E-W; H 3.2m) in the E wall over the entrance passage and guard room. It has a N-S barrel vault with wicker centring. There was a two-light rectangular window in the W wall, although its central mullion is missing. There is a large recess (Wth 1.2m; H 1.7m) extending almost from floor to ceiling at the S end of the W wall. It is unlikely that this is a blocked doorway as the chute from the garderobe is just behind it. The E wall is occupied by a large fireplace. The stonework is fine punch-dressed limestone with ‘wings’ tying the mantel into the stonework of the wall. The fireplace opening has an elliptical head with a jigged keystone and is chamfered. There is punch dressing at the S end. The fireplace occupies the embrasure of the original ogee-headed window, visible on the outer face of the wall. There are two cupboards in the E wall, on either side of the fireplace. At first-floor level a pointed doorway led W off the stairway into the main chamber over the vault which does not survive. This floor has a single corbel in the N wall and a rebate to support the ceiling. There is a small rectangular light just inside the doorway and the E side of an embrasure further along the N wall. The garderobe chute is broken out at the SE corner of the room. Proceeding up the stairs there are two small rectangular lights on the N wall and a small ogee-headed window in the E wall. A circular hole (diam. 0.1m) in the riser of step 24-5 afforded protection to the entrance to the mezzanine below. A pointed doorway leads to the main chamber of the second floor. This chamber has a rectangular window with square hood-moulding on the N wall, but only part of it survives, and there is a single corbel in the N wall for the ceiling. Something like a slop-stone seems to open into this level of the main chamber from the stairs area. The steps on the stairs continue up, but there has been a lot of re-building at this level. A brick-surrounded doorway gives access (down two steps) to the second-floor mezzanine chamber in the E wall which has plastered walls and a brick fireplace. There is rectangular two-light window with two vertical bar-holes and square hood-moulding in the S wall. The central mullion is missing. There is a rebate (Wth 1.3m; D 0.2m; H 1.5m) at the S end of the W wall, in the same position as the rebate on the floor below. There are three corbels in the E and three in the W wall, the tops being 3.48m over the flagged floor of the chamber. To the S of the stairs-head a brick-casemented doorway leads to a gabled chamber in the E wall over the other mezzanine chambers. This area may have been re-worked, possibly in the early 17th century when the windows and probably the fireplace were put in. Immediately ahead of the head of the stairs, in the W wall, there is a blocked opening (Wth 0.55m; surviving H 1.05m) with a slop-stone below it. From the head of the stairs a passage runs N, up one step and meets the wall-walk passage (Wth 0.75m) along the N wall. This passage is limited to part of the N wall and the E wall. The parapet (H 0.9m;T 0.3m) has simple single crenelations. There are three gutter-holes on the E wall, one of which is blocked by the inserted chimney stack which is incorporated in the parapet wall. The stack has two diamond-shaped flues. The rectangular shaped bartizan at the SE angle of the tower house is represented now by five corbels, and there is a single slop-stone on the S wall. (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1984, 14-15; 1997; Salter 2004, 34) Dromore castle is a national monument in state care, no. 583. The following items are attached: CL025-078001-_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. C025-078001-_01.jpg View from ESE. CL025-078001-_02.jpg View from E. CL025-078001-_03.jpg View from SE. CL025-078001-_04.jpg Interior of NE wall. Compiled by: Michael Moore and Mary Tunney Date of upload: 4 March 2019