Shanmuckinish Castle (or Seanmuckinish Castle) (''Muck inis'', Irish for pig island) 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 ...

located in Drumcreehy civil parish of

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 ...

Location

The castle is located on the narrowest part of a small peninsula in the townland of Muckinish West, parish of Drumcreehy, close to the N67 coastal road. The closest town is Ballyvaughan.

History

There are two castles named Muckinish that were reportedly built within three years of each other in the 15th century (''Nua'' means new, ''Sean'' means old). Shanmuckinish was repaired around 1836, and as of 1897 was habitable. Due to the similarities of the names of the two castles the chronology of ownership is confused. Shanmuckinish was also known for a time as "Ballynacragga Castle". This may be an indication that the MacNamara family lived here, bringing the name of their family castle near

Dromoland Castle Dromoland Castle ( ga, Drom Ólainn) is a castle, located near Newmarket-on-Fergus in County Clare, Ireland. It is operated as a five-star luxury hotel with a golf course, with its restaurant, the "Earl of Thomond", being awarded a Michel ...

from which they were expelled in 1654. Otherwise, both Muckinish castles were inhabited up to the 19th century by members of the O'Loghlen, Neylon and Blake families.

Description

The ''

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) maintains a central database of the architectural heritage of the Republic of Ireland covering the period since 1700 in complement to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, which focuses on ar ...

'' describes the tower house as the "remains of free-standing square-plan single bay four-storey rubble stone-built tower house, c. 1450." It reaches almost to its original height of around 17 m and is partially collapsed, exposing a cross-sectional view of the interior floors. The stairways have not survived. However, the ruin still features the remains of two vaulted ceilings, intramural passages and stairs. The lower windows are defensive loops, while the upper floors feature larger decorative windows. A bawn wall survives and is in relatively good repair due to work in the 18th and 19th centuries. The first floor reception room had a large fireplace in the west wall and still extant internal wall rendering. The house also has a wall walk and machicolations (of the original four only two survive).

References

External links

Shanmuckinish Castle at the Clare County Library
{{Historic Irish houses Castles in County Clare