Fanning's Castle ( ga, Caisleán Uí Fhionáin), also called Whitamore's Castle, is the remains of a

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 ...

and National Monument located in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, Ireland.

Location

Fanning's Castle is located off Creagh Lane and Mary Street, opposite the

tholsel Tholsel was a name traditionally used for a local municipal and administrative building used to collect tolls and taxes and to administer trade and other documents in Irish towns and cities. It was at one stage one of the most important secular bu ...

, on King's Island.

History

Fanning's Castle was built c. 1641 by

Mayor of Limerick The office of Mayor of the City and County of Limerick is currently the title used by the chairperson of Limerick City and County Council. Prior to the establishment of the council, the Mayor of Limerick was the chairperson of Limerick City Counc ...

Dominic Fanning.

Building

The walls of the tower house are of roughly squared

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

blocks of varying sizes. It was originally five

storeys A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). Th ...

high, but only four storeys are now visible above ground level. The windows show

ogee An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinat ...

and

mullions A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

. The tower house incorporated a

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

staircase and

battlements A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

References

{{Limerick Castles in County Limerick Buildings and structures in Limerick (city) National monuments in County Limerick Historic house museums in the Republic of Ireland Museums in County Limerick Military and war museums in the Republic of Ireland