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What is recorded here

Six metres of circular stone still break the grass at Dromana, the chopped neck of a tower that once guarded the Blackwater for the Lords of Decies. Gerald Mór raised the castle in the late 15th century, but knife-edged history cut most of it away before the 17th century ended. What remains is a muscular ring perched above the river, large enough to suggest a corner tower for a whole fortified court rather than a mere house.

Situated on a bluff overlooking the N-S Blackwater River, which is immediately to the W. This is a Fitzgerald castle which was the caput of the manor of the Lords of Decies, descended from Gerald Mór, son of James, the seventh Earl of Desmond. It was probably built by Gerald Mór in the late 15th century. It escaped the Desmond forfeitures and the Cromwellian confiscations of the 17th century (Power 1908b, 6-7) to become through marriage the seat of the Villier-Stuart family in the 18th and 19th centuries. The medieval buildings were demolished in the 17th century, apart from the base of a large circular tower (min. diam. 12m; surviving H c. 6m) with a base-batter perched over the river, that is probably the corner tower of a bawn, and a coeval wall (L c. 8m; H c. 6m) extending N to the base of a tower house. A two-light, ogee-headed window with decorated spandrels and a hood-moulding from the tower house is built into a late 17th-century house of eight bays and two storeys which was illustrated by Daniel Grose c. 1820 (Stalley 1991, 58-60). The 18th- and 19th-century ranges are now demolished. (Ryland 1824, 315-17) Power, Rev. P. (1908b) Dromore to Lismore - with notes on the antiquiteis to be visited on the society's annual excurstion, WAJ 12, 1-16. Ryland, Rev. R. H. (1824) The History, topography and antiquities of the county and city of Waterford. John Murray. London. Stalley, R. (1991) Daniel Grosse (c. 1776-1838): the antiquities pf Ireland. The Irish Architectural Archive. Dublin. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 26 July 2011

The castle at Dromana was built by the Fitzgeralds, specifically the Lords of Decies descended from Gerald Mór, and dates to the late medieval period. It was important as the caput of the manor of the Lords of Decies, signifying their regional authority in the area.

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