Coonagh Castle, also called Coolbaun Castle, is a

ruin Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...

ed 13th-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, to command and defend strategic points ...

located in

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Location

Coonagh Castle is located west-southwest of the village of

Doon, County Limerick Doon ( Irish: ''Dún Bleisce'') is a village in east County Limerick, Ireland, close to the border of County Tipperary. It is also a civil parish in the historic barony of Coonagh. and is an ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Archdioc ...

. It lies on the west bank of the Cahernahallia River, a tributary of the Dead River, itself a tributary of the Mulkear.

History

The castle was built by a powerful

Hiberno-Norman Norman Irish or Hiberno-Normans (; ) is a modern term for the descendants of Norman settlers who arrived during the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. Most came from England and Wales. They are distinguished from the native ...

couple,

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

and Matilda de Marisco. It was the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

manor of the medieval

cantred A cantred was a subdivision of a county in the Anglo-Norman Lordship of Ireland between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, analogous to the cantref of Wales or the hundred of England. In County Dublin the equivalent unit was termed a serjeant ...

of Okonagh or Oconagh, equivalent to the ancient barony of Coonagh. There may have been an earlier fort on the site, built by

William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber William de Braose, (or William de Briouze), 4th Lord of Bramber (1144/1153 – 9 August 1211), court favourite of King John of England, at the peak of his power, was also Lord of Gower, Abergavenny, Brecknock, Builth, Radnor, Kington, Li ...

in the 12th century. The land was confiscated by King John in 1210. A grant of Okonagh, with the

vill Vill is a term used in English, Welsh and Irish history to describe a basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit� ...

of Tipperary and the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...

of its parish church, was granted to the Augustinian Friary of the Most Holy Trinity, Dublin. It was later passed to

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Mathilda (gastropod), ''Mathilda'' (gastropod), a genus of gastropods in the family Mathildidae * Matilda (horse) (1824–1 ...

, a relative of King Henry II, when she married William de Marisco some time before 1226. In November 1234 the de Mariscos lost the castle as punishment for siding with

Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke ( 1191 – 15 April 1234), was the son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and brother of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, whom he succeeded to the Earldom of Pembroke and Lord Marshal of England ...

against the King. King Henry III granted it to Luke,

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin () is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: ...

. In 1242, Luke granted a 20-year lease of the manor of Coonagh to

Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Lord of Offaly Maurice Fitzmaurice FitzGerald I, 2nd Lord of Offaly (c.1194 – 20 May 1257) was an Anglo-Norman peer, soldier, and Justiciar of Ireland from 1232 to 1245. He mustered many armies against the Irish, and due to his harsh methods as Justiciar, ...

. It was taken back by the King in 1244. In 1281 it was granted to

Otto de Grandson Otto de Grandson (–1328), sometimes numbered Otto I to distinguish him from later members of his family with the same name, was the most prominent of the Savoyard knights in the service of King Edward I of England, to whom he was the clos ...

. It disappears from the record after this and was allowed to decay.

Castle

The castle is on flat ground which is bordered by a curving break of slope on its south side. The

donjon A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residenc ...

(keep) measures internally, and the walls were up to high (only some of the walls survive). The

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 * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

is externally. The donjon's basement had very thick walls, up to in places. File:Coonagh Castle 2.jpg, Top of tower File:Coonagh Castle view from stream.jpg, View from the Cahernahallia River Castles of Munster - Castletown Coonagh, Limerick - geograph.org.uk - 1542143.jpg, Viewed from the west

References

{{Reflist Castles in County Limerick Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland Towers completed in the 13th century 13th-century establishments in Ireland 13th-century fortifications Ruined castles in the Republic of Ireland