Ardamullivan Castle is a

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

and National Monument located in County Galway,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Location

Ardamullivan Castle is located south of

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, wh ...

and southwest of

Lough Cutra Lough Cutra (formerly ''Lough Cooter'', ) is a lake in County Galway, Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western ...

History

Ardamullivan Castle was built in the 16th century by the Uí Sheachnasaigh (O'Shaughnessy) clan, rulers of the region known as Cenél Áeda na hEchtge until being disposed by Cromwell's invasion (1650s). It is first mentioned after the 1567 death of

Ruaidhrí Gilla Dubh Ó Seachnasaigh Ruaidhrí Gilla Dubh Ó Seachnasaigh (died 1569) was an Irish Knight and Chief of the Name. He is known in English as ''Sir Roger O'Shaughnessy''. The son of Sir Diarmaid Ó Seachnasaigh, Ruaidhrí was described by Sir Henry Sidney as "a ve ...

. In 1579,

Diarmaid Riabach Ó Seachnasaigh Diarmaid Riabach Ó Seachnasaigh, Chief of the Name, died 1579. Annalistic references * ''M1573.6. Murrough, the son of Dermot, son of Murrough O'Brien, was slain by Ulick Burke, the son of Rickard, who was son of Ulick-na-gCeann, and O'Shau ...

and his nephew John, fought each other in a dispute over the castle, which resulted in death for both. Diarmaid Riabach had previously acquired notoriety after betraying

Richard Creagh Richard Creagh (born at Limerick early in the sixteenth century; died in the Tower of London about December 1586) was an Irish Roman Catholic clergyman who was the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland in the second half of the sixte ...

, the fugitive Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, to the authorities. The castle was restored in the 1990s, including reroofing and plastering with lime mortar. Late medieval wall paintings were discovered on the first and fourth levels; they have been compared to those at Abbeyknockmoy and Clare Island Abbey. Depicted is a bishop, a stag hunt, Saint Christopher, a Passion cycle, and St Michael weighing souls on Judgement Day.

Description

The tower house six storeys. Part of the original defensive wall remains. There are traces of

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from th ...

s on the NE and SW corners and along the south wall. Other features include a machicolation, murder hole, many slit windows, fireplaces and a slopstone. Traces of walls around the castle may be part of the original bawn.

References

External links

* National Monuments in County Galway Castles in County Galway {{Ireland-castle-stub