Dough Castle (Irish: Dumhach Ui Chonchuir – "sandbank of the O'Connors") is a ruined

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 ...

Lahinch Lahinch or Lehinch ( ''or'' ) is a small town on Liscannor Bay, on the northwest coast of County Clare, Ireland. It lies on the N67 national secondary road, between Milltown Malbay and Ennistymon, roughly by road southwest of Galway and no ...

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 ...

, western

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. It was established by the

O'Conor The O'Conor family ( Middle Irish: ''Ó Conchubhair''; Modern ga, Ó Conchúir) are an Irish noble house and were one of the most influential and distinguished royal houses in Ireland. The O'Conor family held the throne of the Kingdom of C ...

s in the early 14th century, but nothing remains of the original structures.

Geography

Dough Castle is located in the townland of Dough in the civil parish of

Kilmacrehy Kilmacrehy, sometimes also Kilmacreehy, ( ga, Cill Mhic Creiche) is a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish in County Clare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The ruins of the old parish church lie near the coastal village of Liscannor, which is ...

, County Clare. It lies to the south of the combined estuary of the Inagh and Dealagh rivers.

History

The castle was originally established by the O’Connors, then lords of Corcomroe, in 1306. It served as their principal stronghold and was sited at the strategically important mouth of the Inagh River, where it could control both land and water traffic. A castle here is mentioned in 1422, but all the structures that survive today are of later origin. In 1471, the chieftain was murdered in the castle by his nephews and was buried at the end of what is now the main street of Lahinch. A cairn was erected in his memory, and this gave rise to the official Irish name for Lahinch, ''Leacht Ui Chonchuir'', or "O'Connor’s Cairn". In 1584 it was held by the family of Sir Donal O'Brien. one of whom, Daniel, gave "hospitable and humane" shelter to English settlers who were threatened by the Irish rebellion of 1641. In return for his actions, Dough castle was spared from being demolished or slighted by the Cromwellian army. In 1654, Cromwellian officer Colonel Stubber saved the castle from demolition, and in 1675 the castle still had the full tower with a two-storey house (it was described as a tall battlemented tower with a large two-storey dwelling house attached to one side). Large windows with flat arches and slab lintels replaced the older slit windows. The present ruin is the result of various collapses due to the castle having been built upon sandbanks. One side had fallen before 1839, and a considerable mass, with the chimney, fell in 1883. These sandbanks were reported to be the home of ''Donn Dumhach'' (Donn of the sandhills), a sí prince who according to tradition still haunts the scene. The sandhill near the bridge is also reported to be haunted. No trace has been found of a supposed underground passage, filled with valuables, leading from the castle to Liscannor.

Today

Due to poor foundations on sand, the castle collapsed several times and today it is in ruins, with little more than part of the O'Brien tower remaining on Lahinch Golf Course near where the Dealagh joins the Inagh River. There was another castle in the vicinity, O'Brien's Castle, built by

Turlough O'Brien Turlough O'Brien is a Gaelic football manager. He managed Carlow between 2014 and 2020. In the 2018 National Football League, O'Brien led the team out of Division 4. This was their first promotion in more than three decades. In the 2018 L ...

of the O'Brien clan in 1588 to defend against the Spanish, but nothing remains of this fortress.

References

External links

Castles in County Clare Buildings and structures completed in 1306 Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland {{Ireland-castle-stub