Castlebawn is a 16th-century

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 ...

, in

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,81 ...

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 ...

. It is on a small island on Lough Derg on the River Shannon, it is connected to the shore of Bealkelly by a man-made causeway. It was built by the McNamaras about 1540, severely damaged in 1827, but is now restored although public access is not permitted to the castle.

History

Castlebawn was built by Owen McNamara during an unknown year in the 16th century. The earliest recorded mention of Castlebawn is 1570, when Sean McNamara, Chief of eastern Clann-Cuilein, died, leaving Castlebawn to his son, Sir John McNamara. The McNamaras lived there until the 17th century. In 1820 it became a den for illicit

poitín Poitín (), anglicized as poteen () or potcheen, is a traditional Irish distilled beverage (40–90% ABV). Former common names for Poitín were "Irish moonshine" and "mountain dew". It was traditionally distilled in a small pot still and the ...

makers and in 1827 the authorities besieged the towerhouse to drive the occupants out. After the towerhouse was emptied the authorities attempted to demolish the building with explosives. Only the south wall and roof were destroyed. The remaining walls although damaged remained intact. The castle was so well built that three of the walls remained intact. Simon Flannery occupied the castle early in the 20th century, and locally the castle is still referred to as Simon's Castle. In 1929 the construction of the

Ardnacrusha power plant The Shannon hydroelectric Scheme was a major development by the Irish Free State in the 1920s to harness the power of the River Shannon. Its product, the Ardnacrusha power plant, is a hydroelectric power station which is still producing power to ...

caused the water level in Lough Derg to rise significantly shrinking the island on which the towerhouse stands.

Restoration

It was restored from ruin by Pat and Mary Cody

References

{{Coord, 52, 53, 56.18, N, 8, 28, 46.76, W, scale:50000_type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Castles in County Clare River Shannon