Shanbally Castle was located near Clogheen,

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after t ...

and built for Cornelius O'Callaghan, the first

Viscount Lismore Viscount Lismore, of Shanbally, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1806 for Cornelius O'Callaghan, 2nd Baron Lismore, Lord-Lieutenant of County Tipperary. In 1838 he was also made Baron Lismore, of Shanbally Castle in the Cou ...

, in around 1810. It was the largest house built in Ireland by the noted English architect John Nash. The castle was acquired by the

Irish Land Commission The Irish Land Commission was created by the British crown in 1843 to 'inquire into the occupation of the land in Ireland. The office of the commission was in Dublin Castle, and the records were, on its conclusion, deposited in the records tower t ...

in 1954. On 21 March 1960 the castle, after much controversy, was demolished.

Destruction

The protests against the demolition of Shanbally Castle came from some local sources,

An Taisce An Taisce – The National Trust for Ireland (; meaning "the store" or "the treasury"), established in June 1948, is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) active in the areas of the environment and built heritage in Ireland. It considers itself t ...

, a few academics such as Professor Gwynn and some political voices such as Senator Sean Moylan, the Minister for Agriculture until his death in November 1957, and TD from Mitchelstown, John W Moher. Politically, the

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

Government had no love for houses of the ascendancy and local TD Michael Davern was in favour of its demolition. For a brief period it seemed that a purchaser could be found in the form of the London theatre critic Edward Charles Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville, who had a tremendous love of the Clogheen area, which he had known since childhood. He agreed to buy the castle, together with , but pulled out of the transaction when the

refused to stop cutting trees in the land he intended to buy. When this sale did not happen, the

Irish Government The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The gover ...

claimed that it could not find another suitable owner for the castle. In March 1960, ''The Nationalist'' reported the final end of a building which was once the pride of the neighbourhood. "A big bang yesterday ended Shanbally Castle, where large quantities of gelignite and cortex shattered the building," it said. The explosion could be heard up to away. A statement from the

released after the demolition of the Castle said in response to protests favouring the retention of Shanbally Castle for the nation: "Apart from periods of military occupation the castle remained wholly unoccupied for 40 years".

References

External links

Explosions Rip Through Shanbally Castle
{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2019 Castles in County Tipperary