Black Castle — Thurles Townparks

Locally known as the 'Black Castle', this 15th century tower house was also known as 'Thurles Castle' and stood 35m S of the 12th century Anglo-Norman motte castle (TN041-042004-) as depicted on the 1838 ed. OS 6-inch map. The Mac Richard Butler family resided in the tower house which they built around the year 1453 (O’Donovan 1856, 1170-1). This date of construction was confirmed in a marginal entry in the Laud Misc. 610 manuscript which stated that, ‘It will be a year tomorrow since the Earl of Ormond [James Butler, the 4th Earl] died, that is, St. Bartholomew’s Day, and in that year [1452] he built the bawn of Dunmore and the two castles of Thurles’ (Dillon 1963, 147). The castle stands today surrounded by buildings on the W side of Liberty Square in the medieval town of Thurles (TN041-042----). The tower house stands to the W of the houses fronting onto Parnell Street/Liberty Square and N of the houses fronting onto West Gate Street. The town car park is located 35m N of the castle. The tower house stood inside a bawn (TN041-042020-) or courtyard defended by a stone wall with angle towers and accessed through a gateway. It is not clear if the bawn now mainly levelled is contemporaneous with the castle or if it was a later addition. The castle and bawn is mentioned in the Civil Survey of 1654-6 where the building is described as 'a faire house wherein the Lady of Thurles liveth with a castle and severall Turrets upon the Bawne' (Simington 1931, 53). 'James Earle of Ormond' and 'Elyzabeth Lady Viscountess Dowager of Thurles' are listed as proprietors of the castle in 1640 (ibid.). This tower house appears to be the Thurles Castle described in the early 1900s as following; 'Thurles Castle has a late keep with trefoil windows. From information on the spot it appears that there used to be a motte (TN041-042004-) in the gardens behind the castle' (Armitage 1912, 346). Described in the late 18th century as a castle that 'was strongly garrisoned in the civil war (1641-53), but was taken and demolished by the Parliament's forces; since which it has gone to decay; however enough remains to shew it was formerly a place of considerable strength' (Grose 1791, 70). Present remains consist of a four-storey high lobby-entrance tower house built from coursed limestone rubble with a pronounced base-batter. There is a barrel vault over the ground floor, a pointed vault over the second floor and wooden floors elsewhere. The original entrance, which is now blocked, was in the S end of the E wall with two other entrances inserted at a later date. The main entrance gave access to two lobbies protected by overhead murder-holes and a cruciform gun loop. The walls and floor at ground-floor level have been concreted and a plastic barrel-shaped panel roof inserted to accommodate its last function as an abattoir. A mural stairs in the W and N walls gave access to the upper floors. Windows at first-floor level have been blocked up or modified. A later brick fireplace and flue were inserted into the centre of the W wall of this floor. This inserted flue continues to rise in the W wall up through the second and third-floor levels. A flat-headed doorway in the S end of the W wall of the main chamber at first-floor level gives access to a small mural chamber above the lobby which contains the murder-hole. S of this there is a garderobe chamber which contains two chutes, the second coming from the inaccessible floor above. The second floor is lit by single-light flat and ogee-headed windows. The third floor is well lit with one single and three two-light ogee-headed cusped and rebated windows, with external double chamfers and decorated spandrels. There are a number of wall cupboards in this chamber, some, including a slop-stone, are in window embrasures. The N side of the embrasure in the E wall contains a round-headed doorway which gives access to parapet level via mural stairs. There is very little left of the parapet wall, a portion of it survives on the S and W sides with evidence of a bartizan at the SW angle. There are also the remains of drip stones at the base of the parapet wall. On the external W face there are substantial corbels projecting out, three above the first and the same above second-floor level. They appear to be original and probably relate to an adjoining building, now demolished. Only fragmentary remains of the bawn (TN041-042020-) survive, the N wall of which was levelled in recent years. These include a section of the bawn wall, which would have joined the W wall of the tower house near the SW angle, with the remains of a wall-walk. N of the tower house there is another portion with the remains of a bartizan. A seventeenth-century house (TN041-042017-) may have been constructed against the W face of the tower house where only the tie stones for such a structure survive. See attached 18th century drawing by John James Barralet of 'Thurles Castle' and bawn wall, taken from The Antiquities of Ireland (Grose 1791). 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 Hugh Carey Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 10 August 2018