Doonagore Castle is a round 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 ...

with a small walled enclosure located about 1 km south of the coastal village of

Doolin Doolin () is a coastal village in County Clare, Ireland, on the Atlantic coast. It is southwest of the spa town of Lisdoonvarna and 4 miles from the Cliffs of Moher. It is a noted centre of traditional Irish music, which is played nightly ...

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 ...

. Its name may be derived from ''Dún na Gabhair'', meaning "the fort of the rounded hills" or the "fort of the goats". Doonagore Castle is at present a private holiday home, inaccessible to the public. Doonagore Castle sits on a hill overlooking Doolin Point and, along with a nearby higher radio mast, is used as a navigational point by boats approaching Doolin Pier. It is located in the townland of Doonagore, parish of Killilagh, County Clare. It is sometimes considered to be located in the area known as the Burren. 99

History

A castle was built on (or near) the site of an even earlier ringfort by Tadhg (Teigue) MacTurlough MacCon O'Connor some time during the 14th century. The current structure likely dates from the mid-16th century. Unlike most tower houses in the region, this was built not from limestone but from

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

drawn from the quarry of ''Trá Leachain'' (Flaggy Beach) about 2 km to the southwest. In 1570, it was owned by Sir Donald (or Donnell) O'Brien of the

O'Brien dynasty The O'Brien dynasty ( ga, label=Classical Irish, Ua Briain; ga, label=Modern Irish, Ó Briain ; genitive ''Uí Bhriain'' ) is a noble house of Munster, founded in the 10th century by Brian Boru of the Dál gCais (Dalcassians). After becoming ...

and in 1582 it was occupied by Brian MacCahill O'Connor. In 1583, much of the property in the area was surrendered to

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

and regranted to Turlough O'Brien of

Ennistymon Ennistymon or Ennistimon () is a country market town in County Clare, near the west coast of Ireland. The River Inagh, with its small rapids known as the Cascades, runs through the town, behind the main street. A bridge across the river leads ...

. Doonagore soon fell to the MacClancy (or Clancy) family, the hereditary ''

brehon Brehon ( ga, breitheamh, ) is a term for a historical arbitration, mediative and judicial role in Gaelic culture. Brehons were part of the system of Early Irish law, which was also simply called " Brehon law". Brehons were judges, close in impo ...

s'' or lawyers of the O'Briens. In September 1588, a ship of the Spanish Armada was wrecked below the castle. One-hundred-seventy survivors were caught by the

High Sheriff of Clare The High Sheriff of Clare was a High Sheriff title. Records show that the title was in existence from at least the late 16th century, though it is not used today in the modern Republic of Ireland. The title existed within County Clare in the west ...

Boetius Clancy Boetius Clancy or MacClancy (died April 1598) was a 16th-century Irish landowner, MP and High Sheriff. He was born in Co Clare, the son of Hugh Clancy, and was the great-grandson of Murtagh MacClancy of Cnoc-Finn (Knockfin). The MacClancy family ...

and

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging i ...

at Doonagore Castle or on a nearby

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

barrow near Doolin called ''Cnocán an Crochaire'' (Hangman's Hill). doonagore moon

After the

1641 rebellion The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantation ...

Doonagore was granted to John Sarsfield in 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 ...

. In the late 17th or early 18th century, the castle came into the possession of the Gore family, resulting in the false etymology of "Gore's Castle". They repaired the castle in the early 19th century, but by 1837 it had once again fallen into a state of disrepair. It was restored in the 1970s by architect Percy Le Clerc for a private purchaser, an Irish-American named John C. Gorman whose family still owns it.

Description

Doonagore is one of only three cylindrical tower houses in the Burren region, the others being Newtown Castle and Faunarooska near

Fanore Fanore () is a small village in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland. The area was officially classified as part of the West Clare Gaeltacht, an Irish-speaking community, until 1956. Geography Location Lying on the road between Bally ...

. Mostly built from sandstone, some of its decorative features are carved from limestone. The tower house originally had four floors plus cellar with a beehive vault between the first and second floors. The doorway was protected by a machicolation connected to the wall walk. The bawn wall surrounded the tower.

Today

The castle is a private holiday home and not open to the public.

References

External links

{{coord, 53.00327, N, 9.38713, W, source:placeopedia, display=title Castles in County Clare O'Brien dynasty

History

Description

Today

References

Further reading

External links