Church (in Ruins), Grave Yd. — Castletown (castletownarra Par.)

Medieval parish church ruins of Castletown (Baile an Chaisleáin) Arra, in the diocese of Killaloe, barony of Owney and Arra (Uaithne agus Ara), stands on low-lying ground with a river to the N and the E shoreline of Lough Derg 70m to W. The castle (TN019-001001-) of Castletown stands 90m to N and a medieval mill (TN019-003----) stood to the E as shown on the 1654-5 Down Survey map of Castletown parish (NLI, Ms 721). A second castle site (TN019-004----) depicted on the 1840 ed. OS map where it is shown standing 220m to SSE. In 1423 a papal letter sent to the priory of St. John's Nenagh (TN021-042----), which mandated the assignment of Cornelius O'Hurley, perpetual vicar of the parish church of Magnyo (Moynoe CL029-003001-) in the diocese of Killaloe, son of a priest and an unmarried woman, to be promoted to 'the rectory of Balemkasleanara [Baile an Chaisleáin Arra]' of the patronage of laymen, whose consent is to be given 'so long void, because Cornelius Omoleampull [O'Molampy] held it for more than a year without having himself ordained priest, whether it became void in said way, or by the death of Odo Yhogan [O'Hogan]' (Gleeson and Costello 1943, 5; Cal. papal letters Vol. 7, 267). In 1460 there is a reference to 'Donato Ohogayn [O'Hogan]' and the rectory of 'Bale Inccuyssleaynara' and the perpetual vicarage of 'Teampallincalayth' (Templeachally TN025-016001-) (Gleeson and Costello 1943, 35). In 1494 there is a reference to Maurice O'Brien, clerk of the diocese of Killaloe and the parish church of Baile an Chaisleáin Arra, which had been in the possession of 'Donato Ohogayn [O'Hogan]' (Gleeson and Costello 1943, 83). In 1511 there is a reference to John O'Hogan, clerk of the diocese of Killaloe and the rectory of Baile an Chaisleáin Arra which was united to the church of Youghalarra, Burgesbeg, Ballina and Templeachally (Gleeson and Costello 1943, 95). The parish of Castletown and its patronage by the O'Brien clan was described in the 1654-56 Civil Survey as; 'lying and being in the Terrytory of Arra being an Intire Rectory and not Impropriat the two third p[ar]tes of the Tythes great & smale belonging to the Presenter of Killalow, and the third pte of the Tythe great & Smale belonging to the Viccar, the Right of Presentacon to the Viccarage being in Mc I Bryen Arra. The Tythes great and Smale of the sd. Parish was worth in the yeare 1640 £10' (Simington 1934, 152). There was one acre of glebeland belonging to the vicar of the church which was situated to the 'west of the Churchyard finced round wth a ditch and at present wast, which was worth in the yeare 1640 2s. 6d.' (Simington 1934 vol. 2, 152). In 1615 the Royal Visitation of the Diocese of Killaloe recorded that Daniel Kennedy was the 'officiating vicar', and that the church was in good repair (Gleeson 1915, vol. 2, 510). The 1654-56 Civil Survey recorded that in this townland stood the ‘Castle of Castletowne (TN019-004----) sctiated close by the Shannon together with a barbicon & a Slate house (TN019-001001-) as alsoe a Garden & an Orchard a watermill (TN019-003----) and eight thatch tennem[en]ts, there also standeth the Parish Church of Castletowne (TN019-002001-)’ (Simington 1934 vol. 2, 153). The 'Old Mill' located 50m to W may have been the site of the medieval watermill mentioned in the Civil Survey. Church ruins described in 1951 as follows; 'The old church was situate by the lake shore in Mr. Parker's demense but such remains of it as are now left are of comparatively modern post Reformation construction. It contains a tomb (TN019-002003-) of the Ui Briain Aradh with an inscription. Here are buried some of the Clann Brian Ruadh and Brian Ban chieftains, including Bishop Moriertagh Mac Ui Briain who was educated at Oxford and was first Protestant Bishop of Killaloe. The tomb of his son, Sir Tirlagh Mac Ui Briain and of the latter's wife, the Lady Elizabeth Butler, daughter of Earl Walter, the 11th Earl of Ormond (Walter of the Rosaries) may be seen in Iniscaltra, where he was buried 'in a Friars habit in a superstitious island in the Shannon according to the contemporary State Papers' (Gleeson 1951-2, 97). The present remains consist of a restored apse-ended church (ext. dims 7.6m N-S; 15.46m E-W; wall T 0.68m) constructed with uncoursed sandstone rubble. A buttress was added to the NE angle with a late seventeenth/early eighteenth-century single-storey building (ext. dims. 5.1m N-S; 4.45m E-W; wall T 0.6m) added to the W gable. This small building has a fireplace in the W gable with a protruding external chimney stack. The three windows in the N wall of the church and two in the S wall are later insertions. A two-centred doorway with punch-dressed chamfered jambs with chamfer stops in the centre of the W gable is not in its original position. The W gable also has a small round-arched bellcote. There is a round-arched window with no cut stone visible in the centre of the E gable. The graveyard (TN019-002002-) is enclosed by a nineteenth-century stone wall and contains slate headstones with good examples of folk art. This is probably a late sixteenth/early seventeenth-century church with a possible W extension added in the late seventeenth/early eighteenth-century when the door was placed in the W gable and the windows rebuilt in the N and S walls. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 3 August 2022