Ballygrennan Castle (in ruins) — Ballygrennan (coshma By., Bruff Ed)

Situated in flat pasture 1.1km SSE of the village of Bruff, Ballygrennan Church (LI032-116----) 990m to NNW and the Morningstar River 760m to N. Site of Uregare Church (LI040-043----) 1.3km to the SSW. Ballygrennan Castle described by the Ordnance Survey as 'this castle is said to have been built in the year 1400. It was besieged and taken in the time of Cromwell and is now in a ruinous state' (OSNB Uregare Parish, 1699). A more detailed description of the castle was given in the Ordnance Survey Letters which recorded the following; 'The main building measures sixteen feet two inches [5m] in breadth (inside) and twenty five and a half feet [7.8m] in length exclusive of a circular staircase situated in the south west corner and a set of small apartments to the north of this staircase and in the north wast corner of the Castle . The second floor is destroyed; the third is arched. There was another floor over this, but it is now destroyed. The staircase at present goes no higher than the level of the second floor. The windows are for the most part quadrangular and divided into quadrangular compartments. The, walls are about fifty feet [15.25m] high, two feet, ten and a half inches [0.87m] in thickness, embattled and built of small stones. This main building is surrounded by a very extensive range of strong and old looking buildings in ruins' (OSL Uregare Parish, 38). A drawing of the main tower of Ballygrennan Castle dating from 1840 shows the tower standing to full height with angle machicolation and tall chimney stacks rising above the battlements (NLI,PD 1975 TX 5 (41)). Oblique aerial photograph taken 21/07/1967 shows range of buildings standing inside bawn and single storey house oustie bawn to W (CUCAP ATD036). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that James Fox of Ballygrennan an Irish Papist was in possession of 'a Castle an orchard and a fishing weare [LI040-295----] out of repayre Due to the Earle of Kildare seventeene shillings and six pence p[er] ann[um] chiefrye' (Simington 1938, 133). Westropp (1906-7, 171-2) recorded the following details about Ballygrennan Castle; '1583 Part of the C[astle]. of Ballegrynan was held by W. ffoxe; it lay in Pubblebuskagh (Inq. Exch., 14; Peyton, p. 206). Gerald, Earl of Kildare, and his ancestors had held it (Inq. Exch., 13). Jas. Fox held Castellynam, Ballygrynan C[astle], and other lands (Des. R., 3 b). 1621 It was granted to Dr. J. Metcalf and G. Jones (Pat. R.). 1657 Jas. Fox held Ballygrenan C[astle], orchard, and fishing-weir out of repair. It was sold to G. Evans (C.S., xxiv., p. 20 ; D.S.A., 42 ; B.D., p. 71). Confirmed to Evans, 1667. Fabric - It is a late sixteenth-century house. The main wing is 16 feet [4.87m] by 25½ feet [7.8m] inside, with a circular staircase turret to the south west and small apartments to the north. The second floor is broken, the third vaulted, the next broken. The stairs are gone above the second floor. The windows are rectangular and mullioned ; the walls 3 feet [0.9m] thick, 50 feet [15.2m] high and embattled ; extensive outbuildings and a court with an outer gate remain. The main wing has bartizans at the opposite angles; and, like the other buildings, has tall chimneys (O.S.L., 8, p. 105). There is a view in "Limerick Field Journal," vol. i. Fitzgerald, in 1827, describes it as "a very fine and noble building, surrounded with ramparts"(vol. iii, p. 322). Ballygrennan Castle is depicted as a tower house like structure on the 17th century Down Survey map of Coshma Barony (Hib. Reg.) and the Down Survey of Uregar parish (NLI, Ms. 718). The terrier of the Down Survey parish map recorded that 'upon Ballygrenane stands a Castle' which in 1640 stood on lands belonging to James Fox who is listed as an 'Irish Papist' (ibid.). Described by Fitzgerald (1826, 322-3) as 'a very fine and noble building, surrounded with ramparts and battlements: it surrendered without resistance to Cromwell's forces. Mr. Evans after obtaining this property, materially improved the whole of the district in which it lay'. According to Leask (1973, 122) this castle had an extensive walled bawn with a high, centrally placed tower of 16th-century date, with two courtyards bordered by high-gabled and chimneyed houses of later date'. Classified by Donnelly (1999, 37) as a Type 5 tower house which is a type of castle characterised by 'a rectangular floor plan each of which is unique to an individual site, though each building had architectural features which placed them firmly within the Irish Gothic tower house tradition' (ibid., 22). According to Salter (2004, 65); 'The earls of Kildare are said to have had a castle here but the existing tower may date from after 1583, when Ballygrennan was granted to William ffox. It measures 13.6m by 8m and has two levels below a vault and two lofty upper storeys with large two and three-light windows with hoodmoulds and transoms. Most of the parapet surrounding a fifth storey attic still remains, with square bartizans on the NE and SW corners. The only part to have a battered base is the part of the west end wall adjoining the wide spiral staircase (now destroyed) in the SW corner. The entrance, now destroyed, faced south beside the staircase. Of a house of c. 1600-20 added on this side there remain only the south end wall with a wing extending east of it and most of a wing projecting west adjoining the SW corner of the older tower. Walls were soon added to enclose a small back court with its own doorway west of the house and a SW corner bartizan, and a bawn 20m square was laid out to the east of the house. The ffox family seem to have lost Ballygrennan in 1621 , although they had recovered it by 1657. By then a large outer bawn 38m long by 26m wide had been added on the north side. It has a gateway facing north and corbels for a SE corner bartizan. Doorways were broken through from the lower levels of the tower to give access to an outbuilding filling the west end of this outer bawn, perhaps an addition by the Evans family, to whom the castle was sold in the 1660s. Fireplaces on the upper level suggest it was a stableblock with accommodation for grooms and servants above'. On Saturday 11 September 1690, the Journal of John Stevens gave the following account of Ballygrennan Castle; 'This morning we marched back three miles to Bruff, and with us the Horse Guards and Duke of Tyrconnel's Regiment of Horse. These last encamped in the gardens of a great house near Bruff belonging to one Evans, which, being very large and built after the manner of a castle with large stone walls and battlements, had been burnt by our army: the place was called Ballygrennan. All the Foot and the Horse Guards quartered in the town, which being but small they were much thronged, and to straighten our quarters a house accidentally took fire, and the wind being very high burnt down five or six others that contained a considerable number of men. All the morning whilst we were drawn up on the hill and marched, there continued a most violent storm of wind and rain, which cleared up when we came to Bruff but it fatigued us extremely on the march. All the country about Bruff is very pleasant, being a large valley and good land well peopled and improved. The town is small and has nothing in it worth observing. There was corn and cattle enough, plenty of cabbages in the gardens, and what was the great support of the people and soldiers, large fields of potatoes, yielding prodigious quantities of them, and all little enough considering the vast consumption, for they often serve instead of bread, and the soldiers would be feeding on them all the day’ (Murray 1912, 190). Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 29 October 2020