*Carrigaholt Castle.
CARRIGAHOLT CASTLE has been sold following an auction in Ennis.
Managing Director of Sherry FitzGerald McMahon, Diarmuid McMahon confirmed that Carrigaholt Castle sold “considerably in excess of our guide price of €650,000”.
He reported “active bidding from home and abroad” for the historic landmark along with the cottage, both of which are situated on seventeen acres in the Loop Head Peninsula. It had been privately owned but is under the protection of the Office of Public Works and National Monuments.
Built around 1480 by the MacMahons who were the last of the Gaelic chieftains to rule West Corca Baiscinn which is known today as Loop Head Peninsula.
Fortunes of two families, the MacMahons and the O’Briens during the political and religious turbulence of Ireland, England and Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries are reflected in the castle’s story. Both families descended from the High King of Ireland, Brian Ború
Tadhg ‘Caoch’ was the last of the MacMahons, he was known for being rebellious against English colonisation and was eventually banished from the castle at the end of the Tudor period. The MacMahons were succeeded by the O’Briens, who had a recent history of loyalty to the Crown.
The power struggle of the English Civil War between Parliament and the king led to the execution of King Charles I and the rise to power of Oliver Cromwell. He landed in Ireland in 1651 to quell widespread rebellion. Cromwell’s forces took Carrigaholt Castle, but the O’Briens were reinstated after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.
In 1688, James II was deposed and fled to Ireland where he had widespread support because of his pro-Catholic policies. In the ensuing military campaigns, William of Orange defeated James’ army in Ireland. As a result, the O’Briens of Carrigaholt left for France in what is known as the Flight of the Wild Geese. The MacMahons and the O’Briens continued to fight with the French against the English, many having illustrious military careers. In 1697, the estate was granted to the Earl of Albermarle and quickly sold. The Burton Family acquired the castle and lived here until the end of the 19th century.
Tower houses like Carrigaholt Castle were very popular among the Irish gentry, they dot the landscape of rural Ireland. These small castles became common among the Gaelic chieftains. Over 3,000 were built, and there are the remains of 217 Gaelic tower houses in Co Clare. The tower house, a small portion of a much larger complex, has a steep base batter and is constructed of local flagstone in rough courses with limestone windows and doors.
Over the centuries, Carrigaholt Castle went through many architectural changes. The castle went through many architectural changes over the centuries. The main doorway to the east is under a pointed arch with a wide murder hole inside and a double sloping chute above the doorway fed from the first floor. The ground floor contains a small vaulted chamber with two narrow loops on the E and N walls. The N and W walls have been built up with a brick shelving to serve as a wine store
To the south of the entrance hall is another vaulted chamber containing a wide circular stairwell and a narrow chamber to the east lit by a narrow loop. The spiral stairs were built of local flagstone. The tower house contains two vaults, one over the ground floor and the second over the third floor. All the other floors were supported on beams resting on corbels. One original beam remains in situ over the second floor. Above the ground floor the tower house is lit by double light windows, but all the central mullions are missing. The wall over each window is supported on wooden lintels now badly rotten. These may have been inserted in the 18th century to modernise the old tower. Much refurbishment in brick is evident throughout.
In recent years the fourth floor was repaired, it contains a fine limestone fireplace with the initials “DIB, 1603” carved on it (Daniel O’Brien). To the N.W. of this room, protruding from the castle wall, is a corner machicoulis, or bartizan, defending the north and west walls.
A sketch drawn in 1675 showed a large mansion attached to the western side of the tower at Carrigaholt. Tradition says that Lord Clare trained his dragoons in front of the castle, on a lawn, long since eroded by the water of the Shannon. The ghosts of that Lord, and those of his Dragoons, were supposed to traverse the west, in the stormy nights of winter and to disappear at dawn, into the surges, off Carrigaholt.
