Gorteens Castle is a ruined castle situated on private land in south-east

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

near the village of

Slieverue Slieverue, officially Slieveroe, () is a village in South County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland. It is located in the historical barony of Ida. Despite the name, the land is relatively low-lying and fertile. Slieverue's population, as of the ...

close to

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

city. It is in the historic parish of Rathpatrick in the south-east of the Barony of Ida. Along with the ruins of Rathpatrick church and another church, it is one of several ruins in Rathpatrick Parish. The ruin consists of a gatehouse that may have belonged to a larger structure. ''Gorteens'' comes from the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

''na goirtinsdhe'' which means little gorts or gardens. Archaeological excavations near the castle in 1993 indicated that the site was used between the 16th and 18th centuries, with further excavations in 2003 identifying additional castle walls and outbuildings.

Owners

The castle was originally built upon lands acquired by

Raymond FitzGerald Raymond (or Redmond) Fitz William Fitz Gerald (died 1185–1198), nicknamed ''Le Gros'' ("the Large"), was a Cambro-Norman commander during the Norman invasion of Ireland. Raymond was among the first of a small band of Norman knights who lan ...

, who died in the late 1100s. The

FitzGerald The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

s were the most powerful

Norman-Irish From the 12th century onwards, a group of Normans invaded and settled in Gaelic Ireland. These settlers later became known as Norman Irish or Hiberno-Normans. They originated mainly among Cambro-Norman families in Wales and Anglo-Normans from ...

aristocratic dynasty in

medieval Ireland Ireland in the Middle Ages may refer to: * History of Ireland (400–800), Ireland in the early Middle Ages *History of Ireland (800–1169), Ireland in the high Middle Ages *History of Ireland (1169–1536), Ireland in the late Middle Ages See a ...

until the 1500s. Gorteens was included in the

Down Survey The Down Survey was a cadastral survey of Ireland, carried out by English scientist, William Petty, in 1655 and 1656. The survey was apparently called the "Down Survey" by Petty, either because the results were set down in maps or because the su ...

of Ireland in 1656 as being in the Baronys of Ida, Igrim or Ibercon and in the Parish of Rathpatricke. John FitzGerald, a Catholic, is recorded as being the last FitzGerald holder of Gorteens. Following the

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland or Cromwellian war in Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell invaded Ireland wi ...

, FitzGerald forfeited Gorteens under the

Cromwellian Settlement The Act for the Setling of Ireland imposed penalties including death and land confiscation against Irish civilians and combatants after the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and subsequent unrest. British historian John Morrill wrote that the Act and a ...

and was initially transplanted to Connaught in December 1653, before being assigned lands in Turlough and later in Carra,

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

by 1677. The duellist

George Robert FitzGerald George Robert Fitzgerald, aka Fighting Fitzgerald (c.1748 – 12 June 1786) was a celebrated Irish eccentric, duellist and landowner, who was hanged for conspiracy to murder in 1786. Biography FitzGerald came from Turlough, near Castlebar, ...

was descended from this family. By 1670, the castle at Gorteens was reputedly in the hands of Samuel Skrimsheire or Skrimshaw, a Protestant. In 1700, it was owned by members of the Forstall family.

References

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