Doonagore Castle is a round 16th-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 ...

with a small walled enclosure located about 1 km south of the coastal village of

Doolin Doolin () is a coastal village in County Clare, Ireland, on the Atlantic coast. It is southwest of the spa town of Lisdoonvarna and 4 miles from the Cliffs of Moher. It is a noted centre of traditional Irish music, which is played nightly in ...

County Clare County Clare () is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern part of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council ...

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 ...

. Its name may be derived from ''Dún na Gabhair'', meaning "the fort of the rounded hills" or the "fort of the goats". Doonagore Castle is at present a private holiday home, inaccessible to the public. Doonagore Castle sits on a hill overlooking Doolin Point and, along with a nearby higher radio mast, is used as a navigational point by boats approaching Doolin Pier. It is located in the townland of Doonagore, parish of Killilagh, County Clare. It is sometimes considered to be located in the area known as the Burren. 99

History

A castle was built on (or near) the site of an even earlier

ringfort Ringforts or ring forts are small circular fortification, fortified settlements built during the Bronze Age, Iron Age and early Middle Ages up to about the year 1000 AD. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are ...

by Tadhg (Teigue) MacTurlough MacCon O'Connor some time during the 14th century. The current structure likely dates from the mid-16th century. Unlike most tower houses in the region, this was built not from limestone but from

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

drawn from the quarry of ''Trá Leachain'' (Flaggy Beach) about 2 km to the southwest. In 1570, it was owned by Sir Donald (or Donnell) O'Brien of the

O'Brien dynasty The O'Brien dynasty (; ; genitive ''Uí Bhriain'' ) was an Irish Clan and noble house of Munster, founded in the 10th century by Brian Boru of the Dál gCais (Dalcassians). After becoming King of Munster, through conquest he established hims ...

and in 1582 it was occupied by Brian MacCahill O'Connor. In 1583, much of the property in the area was surrendered to

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

and regranted to Turlough O'Brien of

Ennistymon Ennistymon or Ennistimon () is a country market town in County Clare, near the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The Inagh River, River Inagh, with its small rapids known as the Cascades, runs through the town, behind the main street. ...

. Doonagore soon fell to the MacClancy (or Clancy) family, the hereditary ''

brehon Brehon (, ) is a term for a historical arbitration, mediative, and judicial role in Gaelic culture. Brehons were part of the system of Early Irish law, which was also simply called " Brehon law". Brehons were judges, close in importance to the ...

s'' or lawyers of the O'Briens. In September 1588, a ship of the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval ...

was wrecked below the castle. One-hundred-seventy survivors were caught by the High Sheriff of Clare,

Boetius Clancy Boetius Clancy or MacClancy (died April 1598) was a 16th-century Irish landowner, MP and High Sheriff. He was born in Co Clare, the son of Hugh Clancy, and was the great-grandson of Murtagh MacClancy of Cnoc-Finn (Knockfin). The MacClancy family ...

and

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

at Doonagore Castle or on a nearby

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

barrow near Doolin called ''Cnocán an Crochaire'' (Hangman's Hill). After the 1641 rebellion Doonagore was granted to John Sarsfield in the Cromwellian settlement. In the late 17th or early 18th century, the castle came into the possession of the Gore family, resulting in the false etymology of "Gore's Castle". They repaired the castle in the early 19th century, but by 1837 it had once again fallen into a state of disrepair. It was restored in the 1970s by architect Percy Le Clerc for a private purchaser, an Irish-American named John C. Gorman whose family still owns it.

Description

Doonagore is one of only three cylindrical tower houses in the Burren region, the others being Newtown Castle and Faunarooska near Fanore. Mostly built from sandstone, some of its decorative features are carved from limestone. The tower house originally had four floors plus cellar with a beehive vault between the first and second floors. The doorway was protected by a

machicolation In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...

connected to the wall walk. The

bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional s ...

wall surrounded the tower.

Today

The castle is a private holiday home and not open to the public.

References

External links

{{coord, 53.00327, N, 9.38713, W, source:placeopedia, display=title Castles in County Clare O'Brien dynasty

History

Description

Today

References

Further reading

External links