Portumna Castle is a semi-fortified house in

Portumna Portumna ( - meaning 'the landing place of the oak') is a market town in the south-east of County Galway, Ireland, on the border with and linked by a bridge to County Tipperary. The town is located to the west of the point where the River Shanno ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

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 ...

which was built in the early 17th century by

Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde Richard Burke, 4th Earl of Clanricarde (also Richard de Burgh) (; ; ; ; 1572 – 12 November 1635) was an Irish nobleman and politician. He was the son of Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde. Knighted in 1602 for his exploits as leader of th ...

Location

Portumna Castle is located close to the shore of Lough Derg near where the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Shan ...

enters the lake.

Portumna Abbey Portumna Abbey is a medieval Cistercian (and later Dominican) friary and National Monument located in Portumna, Ireland. Location Portumna Abbey is located south of Portumna town centre, immediately east of Portumna Castle and on the nort ...

is to the east.

History

When it was built, Portumna Castle was without equal in Ireland at the time in style, grandeur and distinction, outshining castles at

Rathfarnham Rathfarnham () is a Southside suburb of Dublin, Ireland. It is south of Terenure, east of Templeogue, and is in the postal districts of Dublin 14 and 16. It is within the administrative areas of both Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council a ...

Kanturk Kanturk () is a town in the north west of County Cork, Ireland. It is situated at the confluence of the Allua (Allow) and Dallow (Dalua) rivers, which stream further on as tributaries to the River Blackwater. It is about from Cork, Blarney and ...

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

, Charlemont and

Burncourt Burncourt (){{cite web , url = https://www.logainm.ie/en/1414505 , title = An Chúirt Dóite/Burncourt , website = Placenames Database of Ireland (logainm.ie) , access-date = 15 December 2021 is a village in County Tipperary, Ireland with an ...

. Its builder was

Lord President of Connaught The Lord President of Connaught was a military leader with wide-ranging powers, reaching into the civil sphere, in the English government of Connaught in Ireland, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The office was created in 1569, and in 1 ...

, of the de Burgo family of Norman descent. The castle was built around 1610 to 1617 at a cost of £10,000. The Earl also built a mansion,

Somerhill House Somerhill House () is a Grade I listed Jacobean mansion situated near Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom. It was built for The 4th Earl of Clanricarde in 1611–13. The estate was sequestrated by Parliament in 1645, and restored to its rightful ...

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Portumna castle was built in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

already prevalent in Italy and France for over a century, but not commonly found in Ireland or England at that time. The Renaissance features of the exterior are, strictly speaking, limited to the doorcase of the front entrance and the Tuscan gateway of the innermost courtyard, but the layout is an expression of Renaissance ideas. The castle is symmetrical in shape and consists of three stories over a basement with square corner projecting towers. The castle measures 29.7m by 21.2m and the corner towers are 6.5m square with gunports. A central corridor, 3m wide, runs longitudinally from top to bottom, supported by stone walls, which contain numerous recesses and fireplaces. The castle was abandoned as a home following a fire in 1826. The

Office of Public Works The Office of Public Works (OPW) ( ga, Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí) (legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of ow ...

has re-built the huge

chimney stack A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typ ...

s. The estate grounds contain walled gardens, gate lodges, gateposts and a yard.

References

* Portumna Castle & its Lords, Michael Mac Mahon * Jacobite Ireland, J.G Simms. * A Short History of Ireland, J.C. Beckett. * Visit To Portumna, Portumna Junior Chamber of Commerce. * How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill. * Various Articles: Dr P.K. Egan, Stephen Nevin, O.E. Moeran, M. Craig, H.A. Wheeler, John Bilson, Louisa Beaufort, Duchas.

External links

Portumna Castle at Heritage Ireland

{{Castles in Connacht National Monuments in County Galway Castles in County Galway Historic house museums in the Republic of Ireland Flight of the Wild Geese Military and war museums in the Republic of Ireland Museums in County Galway

Location

History

See also

References

External links