Glenogra Castle (in ruins) — Glenogra

Poorly preserved remains of an impressive multi-period castle which was first built as a Desmond Castle in the 13th century and later enclosed to the S with a bawn wall of possible 15th/16th century date. O'Donovan recorded a local tradition in 1840 that the castle was first built by the Earl of Desmond around the beginning of the 15th century although this dating may refer to the building of the bawn rather than the earlier octagonal shaped donjon. The castle and manor of Glenogra was described in the Desmond Survey of 1584 as ‘A castle very ruinous there without room or roof, and an enclosure or balne [bawn] whose walls are in great decay so that the castle is not defensible. There is near the castle an empty house having only one solar' or story habitable. It is situate on exceedingly fertile level land. Adjacent and belonging to said castle are divers demesne lands of divers kinds the best and most fertile of their kind containing 4 carucates of land which are valued in lawful-money and provisions to be delivered as aforesaid viz:— 6l. 13s. 4d. money, 12 cows, 20 pecks of wheat, 20 pecks of barley malt and 40 pecks of oaten malt. A water mill now in very great decay and therefore valued by said commissioners in lawful English money payable yearly at said feasts only at 10s. sterling. The vill or villate called Creans which before the rebellion had buildings now altogether devastated (the walls of an old chapel only being left. This vill with its lands which are very fertile adjoins the demesne lands of Glanogre castle and was member thereof: it contains with 200 acres by estimation of underwood (subboscus) about 12 years old 2 carucates of land valued yearly as aforesaid by the commissioners and to be rendered on the days’ (Murphy 2013, 152). The survey recorded that these lands which comprised the manor of Glannogre [Glenogra] were now ‘late in the tenure or occupation of Sir George Bourchier knight’ (ibid.). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that Henry, Earl of Bath, was in possession of Glenogra on which there was a 'Castle a Bawne, 30 houses & Cabbins & a Mill together with a Court leet & Court Barron' (Simington 1938, 105). Glenogra Castle was described in 1840 as following; ‘It is a very extensive fortress, consisting of a large bawn fortified with towers. The east side of this bawn is exactly one hundred and fifty feet [45.7m] in length and the south side is one hundred and eighty feet [54.8m]. The greatest height of the outer wall (which is at the east site) is twenty five feet [7.6m] and the general thickness five feet [1.5m]. It is very well built of square blocks of lime stone cemented with excellent lime and sand mortar. On the north east corner stands an octagonal tower of curious construction measuring on the inside nineteen feet six inches [5.94m] in diameter. It consists of four stories, of which the second is a stone arch of very strange construction; the other floors were of wood and each was lighted by three quadrangular windows of considerable size. On the south west side of this octagon stands a small square tower, to the top of which a spiral stair case leads, and near this tower on the west side of the octagon is a very tall chimney in good preservation. The walls of this octagon are six feet nine inches [2.05m] in thickness. There are several vaults (four in number) of curious construction in the north wall of this fortress, over which towers originally stood, but the towers are now entirely destroyed. This bawn was entered on the south side by a pointed gateway measuring eight feet six inches [2.6m] where the arch springs. The country people have disfigured the walls of this bawn by picking the cut stone out of its face. The fortress was built, according to tradition, by the Earl of Desmond about the year 1400, but I do not believe the octagonal tower above mentioned in near so old’ (OSL Glenogra Parish, 114). In 1942 the castle was described as following; 'A considerable portion of this castle remains. It consists of a rectangular enclosing wall 150' by 180'. On each of the northern corners of this there was an octagonal tower, part of the north-eastern one remaining. Its whole north side has fallen away. It was four storeys high, the roof of the bottom storey being vaulted. In this, the stones were arranged on edge in concentric circles. The spiral stairs winds upward in an anti-clockwise direction, which is an unusual feature. A high triple chimney which stood on the parapet of this in 1840 is now gone. A small round-headed doorway opens from the base of the tower on to the enclosure. The main entrance to the latter was on the south side through a pointed arched gateway in the wall. This remains, though the facing of the wall is gone both inside and out. The castle is said to have been built between 1400 and 1420. The builder was Thomas, Earl of Desmond. The Earls held it till 1583. 1593, Ed. Fitton, Sheriff of Limerick, fled, leaving Glenogra to the Rebels. 1600, Glenogra, a town of Sir George Bourchier, was wasted by Piers Lacy from Kilquig. 1655, the Earl of Bath held it' (O'Kelly 1942-3, 234). Glenogra Castle was described in the Urban Survey of Limerick as following; 'This stands on a large raised platform above the Camoge river with good views in all directions. Westropp (1906-7, 433) suggested that it was built c. 1400-1420 but in its present dilapidated state it is difficult to be certain. As the site of an important Anglo-Norman manor it is quite likely that there would have been a castle here from the beginning of the thirteenth century. The platform is delimited on the south and east by a ditch 1m deep and c. 8m wide. The castle consists of a large rectangular bawn, which may have had an external ditch (traces can be seen on the east), and whose walls survive to a height of c. 6-7m on the east. There appear to have been at least five separate structures within or enclosed by the bawn. It is built of coursed limestone masonry although much of the stone facing of the bawn wall has been removed from both the internal and external faces, except on the east where it survives relatively intact. A pointed entrance, with one bar-hole, survives on the south side of the bawn and an old roadway can be seen in the field leading up to the entrance from the south. This gateway may have had some form of gatehouse as two returns can be seen flanking the entrance on the internal wall face. In the south-east corner of the bawn there was a two floored building which is now completely ruined. The east and south walls were those of the bawn while the north wall survives to a height of 2.5m and the west gable is 4m high. There appears to have been a chimney built up against the east wall and an opening (? a door) in the east end of the south wall while two broken openings to the north may have been windows opening into the bawn. The south west corner had a polygonal tower which survives to second floor level but is completely inaccessible and overgrown. It may have had a rectangular annex on the north-east side and a vaulted passage to the south. Foundations of a tower with enclosing wall remain on the north west side of the bawn. A large four-floored octagonal tower occupied the north east angle of the bawn. Only the remains of the four eastern walls survive but a diameter of c. 7.3m can be ascertained for the tower. The first floor (which is at present ground level) is c. 4m high with a round barrel-vault. There are stairs (now blocked) in the north-east corner descending to the original ground floor. It has two deeply splayed embrasures on the north and north-west both of which were probably vaulted. The second floor is 1m high and there is a large fireplace in the south-east wall and a wide flat arched window in the east wall. The third floor had a similar internal arrangement. The west side of this tower is lying on the ground and one section, a pentagonal turret, is lying intact wit