Isert Kelly Castle is 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, to command and defend strategic points ...

and

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

located in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

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

Isert Kelly Castle is southwest of

Kilchreest Kilchreest () is a civil parish of County Clare, Ireland. It contains the village of Ballynacally and is part of the Roman Catholic parish of Ballynacally (Clondegad), which includes the civil parish of Clondagad to the north. Location Kilchr ...

History

The tower house was built some time in the 15th century. It belonged to the MacHubert Burkes, who claim descent from Hubert, son of

Richard Óg de Burgh Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and i ...

, a

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 ...

knight of the 13th century. It later passed to the MacRedmonds, another branch of the Burkes (de Burgo, de Búrca). It was burned by the Ó Doṁnaill (O'Donnells) in 1596. A fireplace within is dated 1604. After the

Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the Commonwealth of England, initially led by Oliver Cromwell. It forms part of the 1641 to 1652 Irish Confederate Wars, and wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three ...

Isert Kelly Castle passed to Dudley Persse.

William Persse Col. William Persse (c. 1728 – 19 January 1803) was an Irish Volunteer. Persse was born at Roxborough House, County Galway, a great-grandson of Dudley Persse of Northumberland (see House of Percy), who settled in Galway during the Cromwellian ...

owned it in the 19th century. Substantial excavation took place in 2014–16.

Description

The tower house is well-preserved and stands tall, within a bawn square. Secondary buildings may have included a hall, stables, cottages and barns. The surrounding "Castlepark" townland covers . The first floor is

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

and has a fireplace. The second floor has arcades. The main room is at the third storey with a dated fireplace of 1604 with the initials W.H.

References

External links

*{{YouTube, nZkfrNztPGg, Archaeological Excavations, Isert Kelly Castle 2015 National monuments in County Galway Castles in County Galway