Castle — tower house in Townparks (galway By., St. Nicholas Par.)

Situated at the junction of Shop Street and Abbeygate Street Upper – at almost the exact centre of the old medieval town – Lynch's Castle is the finest surviving example of an urban tower-house in the country. The building has been much modified and altered over the centuries. The oldest portion, at the street junction, consists of a classic tower-house type castle and dates to around 1500. At this time it possessed a smaller western wing which was subsequently raised – possibly in the later seventeenth century – to the height of the adjoining tower and new windows inserted in it. The straight joint between the two structures is clearly visible in the upper part of the Shop Street facade and the difference in the carving of the hood-moulds over the two windows further highlights this later work. Very little is known about the history of the castle and it is not recorded by or for whom it was erected. It was certainly the home of a very wealthy member of the Lynch family and was reputedly the residence of Thomas Lynch fitz Andrew, mayor of Galway in 1654, who was deposed by the notorious Cromwellian military governor, Colonel Peter Stubbers. There is a record of massive alterations been undertaken to the whole structure in the early years of the nineteenth century and the building was subsequently inhabited by woollen drapers named Lynch. In 1918, it was leased by the Munster and Leinster Bank (now incorporated in Allied Irish Banks) as a preliminary to later outright purchase and extensive renovations were undertaken around 1930 including the insertion of a new entrance door and windows at ground floor level. These were carved in 1933 by the Dublin sculptor, Laurence Campbell. Further repairs to the fabric were undertaken in 1964-6 and a major extension was added to the north at this time. The castle was certainly much higher than the surviving remains indicate and it appears originally to have had five storeys, one more than at present. At some stage, almost certainly as part of the alterations in the early nineteenth century, the floor levels were changed and the present orderly arrangement of late Georgian windows inserted. At this time also it seems likely that the older carvings and hood-moulds were moved to their present positions. Some indication of the original floor levels can be gained from the three surviving gun-loops on the corner of the building and from the few remaining examples of windows which are still in situ. Between the third and fourth storeys on the Shop Street facade are the blocked-up remains of a large, finely decorated window with cusped ogee heads to the lights: its lower section has been removed. The location of such a large window at this level is typical of tower-houses of the period for the principal living rooms were on the upper floors. The remains of two other blocked-up windows can be seen in the masonry of the storey below and it seems likely that the hood-moulds above the present third storey windows may have been taken from them. On the same level as the blocked-up windows is another single-light example on the Abbeygate Street facade. Among the carvings deserving particular attention are the merchants’ marks – in the form in the form of a reversed ‘4’ with a forked stem – that can be seen below the hood-mould terminals on either side of the present third storey windows. This particular mark undoubtedly belonged to the original owner but, as with much else about the history of this building, we do not know his identity. A most unusual feature of the castle is the occurrence of carved water-spouts (eighteen in all) which are now functionless though originally would have carried the rain-water from the roof clear of the building. Nine of these are true gargoyles being in the form of grotesque animal and human heads and these may be compared with the only other surviving examples from Galway on St. Nicholas’ church. There are three panels with coats-of-arms on the castle. The upper circular panel on the Shop Street facade consists of a garland of stylised vine-leaves surrounding a shield bearing the Lynch arms. The inscription directly below the shield does not, as one might expect, relate to any particular person but simply reads Scutum de Lynche – Lynch’s shield or coat-of-arms. We may infer a certain vanity on the part of those who commissioned this work for the shield is shown with supporters on either side (griffins). Authority for using supporters was usually only granted to nobles or others of high order and their inclusion here without official sanction was very much a public statement by the Lynchs of their own importance. Immediately below this panel is the carving of a lion-like creature with the facial characteristics of a human. There is an almost identical figure on the Abbeygate Street facade below another roundel bearing the arms of the Fitzgeralds. Directly under each is a stone with a Latin inscription in gothic letters. That on the Shop Street facade reads in translation ‘After darkness I hope for light’ (from the Old Testament Book of Job 17:12) while the other reads ‘He hath put down the mighty from their seat and hath exalted the lowly’ (from the Magnificat; Luke 1:52). The large rectangular panel at first floor level in the Shop Street facade bears the royal arms of Henry VII (1485-1509) accompanied by a contracted Latin inscription in gothic letters which may be translated: ‘Long live the King of England, France and Lord of Ireland.’ The likely explanation for the occurrence of the royal arms on the castle is that firstly, the building dates to the period of Henry VII’s reign and secondly, as Galway was granted in 1484 the honour of electing its own mayor and bailiffs with all the special privileges that this entailed, the plaque would be a fitting testament of its citizens’ loyalty to the new king. Immediately below this panel is a most unusual carving. It has been interpreted as representing an ape holding a child in its paws though close examination shows that the creature is much more lion-like in appearance. The carving is supposed to represent the story of how a pet monkey or ape rescued a child from a fire in the castle. But this is purely the stuff of myth and legend. A similar story is associated with the Fitzgerald family, Earls of Kildare, and there may be some truth to it in this instance for a chained ape is the device used as a crest in their coat-of-arms. Indeed, it can be seen as such in the roundel on the Abbeygate Street facade where the Fitzgerald arms are carved. The occurrence of these arms on this building is puzzling though, together with the two inscriptions noted above, they might be considered as an expression of gratitude by the townspeople to Garret, Earl of Kildare, who in 1504 had come to the assistance of the burgesses after William Burke and other chieftains had rebelled and invested the town. Garret, who was then lord deputy, defeated the rebels at Knockdoe, some 15km north-east of Galway. Even though built within a walled town the castle incorporated a number of defensive elements including the gun-loops on the corner and a small box-like projection on the Abbeygate Street facade. Though much rebuilt this latter feature houses another loop pointing away from the castle to the north and it probably served to protect a door immediately beside it. Above and to left of it are a curious pair of decorated corbels or brackets. Sitting on top of each one is a perforated block. These are later additions and have led to the corbels been interpreted either as a place where a bell was hung or where a beam supported some form of block-and-tackle arrangement for hoisting goods into the upper storeys of the castle. Indeed, it is very probable that the latter arrangement existed at one time for there are traces of an arched doorway between the corbels. However, it has been suggested that this doorway corresponds with the original principal entrance to the castle a