Springfield Castle,
Broadford, is situated in the west part of
County Limerick,
Ireland, close to the town of
Newcastlewest
Newcastle West () or simply Newcastle (''An Caisleán Nua'', formerly anglicized Castlenoe) is a town in west County Limerick, Ireland. It is the largest town in the county, excluding Limerick city, It is also the county town, and sits on the ...
.
The castle is a group of buildings around a courtyard, comprising two stone keeps, or towers; one 15th-century, one 18th-century, a range of workshops and stables and the modernised remains of an 18th-century servants' wing.
In 1280 the
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
Fitzgerald family settled at the site, then known as Gort na Tiobrad. The Fitzgeralds married into the local ruling class, the Gaelic O'Colleains and assumed the title Lords of Claonghlais. During the 15th century their descendants built a stone
keep
A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') 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 c ...
. Recently restored the keep contains a fine example of a mural staircase (stone steps built within the thickness of the external wall).
During the mid-17th century the Fitzgeralds gave shelter and patronage to the Irish poet
Dáibhí Ó Bruadair
Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (1625 – January 1698) was one of the most significant Irish language poets of the 17th century. He lived through a momentous time in Irish history and his work serves as testimony to the death of the old Irish cultural and ...
(1625–1698), who wrote an elegy about the family, as well as recording their lives and exploits.
"David O'Bruadair"
Catholic Encyclopedia at newadvent.org.
As the family prospered, a second keep was built during the 18th century to garrison soldiers.
In 1691, following the confiscation of their lands by the King of England, the Fitzgeralds left Springfield and returned to France. The property was bought by William Fitzmaurice, a younger son of the 20th Lord Kerry. His son, John Fitzmaurice, built a large three-storey mansion in Early Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
style, adjacent to the 13th-century keep, which survived until the Irish Republican Army burnt it down in 1921.
In 1780 Ann Fitzmaurice, sole heiress, married Sir Robert Deane, 1st Baron Muskerry. Following the fire in 1921, Sir Robert Deane, 5th Baron Muskerry rebuilt the Georgian mansion's servants wing and renovated parts of the other buildings. It is these parts of the complex, with of land and several lodges, which are today inhabited by his descendants. The castle is owned by Robert Deane, 9th Baron Muskerry
Robert Fitzmaurice Deane, 9th Baron Muskerry (born 26 March 1948), is a nobleman in the Peerage of Ireland.
Born in Grahamstown, South Africa, he is married to Rita, Lady Muskerry, and is resident in Durban, South Africa. The couple has three chi ...
.
References
External links
Springfield Castle
{{coord, 52.3518, -8.9555, display=title
Castles in County Limerick