Clomantagh Castle is a 15th-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 near

Freshford, County Kilkenny Freshford () is a village and former town in the Barony (Ireland), barony of Cranagh (barony), Crannagh, County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is 13 km north-west of Kilkenny city. The village is in a Civil parishes in Ireland, ...

, in

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 ...

. Originally constructed in the 1430s, additional buildings and outbuildings were added in the subsequent centuries - including a connected 19th century farmhouse. Carvings on the castle's walls include a

Sheela na gig A sheela na gig is a figurative carving of a naked woman displaying an exaggerated Human vulva, vulva. These carvings, from the Middle Ages, are Grotesque (architecture), architectural grotesques found throughout most of Europe on Architecture ...

relief (a symbolic pagan nude). Situated on lands owned by the

Earls of Ormond Earldom of Ormond may refer to: * Earl of Ormond (Scotland), created twice in the Peerage of Scotland for the House of Douglas *Earl of Ormond (Ireland) The peerage title Earl of Ormond and the related titles Duke of Ormonde and Marquess of Or ...

, on the death of Pierce 'Ruadh' Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond in 1539, the castle was inherited by his son,

Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret (1500 – 20 May 1571) was the son of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond and Margaret Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormond, Lady Margaret Fitzgerald. He married his half first cousin Eleanor Butler, daughter of Theo ...

. It remained in the hands of the Butlers of Mountgarret through the 16th and 17th centuries, until its confiscation following 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 ...

. The castle was subject to renovations in the late 20th century (which received an award from the

Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) () founded in 1839, is the "competent authority for architects and professional body for Architecture in Ireland." The RIAI's purpose is "to uphold the highest standards in architecture a ...

), and is now managed as a holiday rental property by the

Irish Landmark Trust The Irish Landmark Trust is an architectural conservation and educational organisation founded in Ireland in 1992. Similar to the British Landmark Trust (founded in 1965), it is a registered charity which renovates buildings of historic interest a ...

References

{{coord, 52.7255, -7.4853, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Castles in County Kilkenny Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland