Glashare Castle

On a slight rise just above the flood plain of the Rathlogan river, in rolling grassland. Very good views in all directions. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 287) this castle belonged to the Butlers of Ormond in the 16th and 17th centuries. The OS Letters (1839) note that the castle is ‘in good preservation and inhabited’ (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 153 (50)). A rectangular four-storied tower house (ext. dims. 12.5m E-W; 9.9m N-S; wall T 0.9-1.04m) with a base-batter (H 2.4m; Wth c. 0.2-0.3m). Externally an 18th/19th-century stone outbuilding has been built up against the W side of the S wall. The tower house was much modified in the 18th/19th century with the insertion of two brick vaulted chambers at ground-floor level and a rebuilding of the fourth floor and crenelated parapet. The external render is in excellent condition and appears to date from the 18th/19th century. The entrance was also altered in this phase, a bow-fronted perron was added onto the S face to give access to a large first-floor doorway, utilising the embrasure of an original window, now broken out. The second and third floor had wooden floors resting on corbels. These floors do not survive and the mural chambers at these levels, where accessed from the main chamber, are inaccessible. There is a pointed vault over the third floor.

The original entrance, a pointed doorway, with a rebated external chamfer, is at ground floor level at the S end of the W wall. There is an original guardroom (L 2.25m; Wth 1.06m; H 1.92m) to the S, entered via a flat-headed doorway and the spiral stair was accessed via a pointed doorway in the NW angle. The entrance lobby itself has been altered by the insertion of the two brick-vaulted chambers. The ground-floor chamber was originally lit by three round-headed loops, one in each of the N, E and S walls. Internally inner skins of masonry were added in the 18th/19th century to support the brick vaults.

The main first-floor chamber (dims. 5.4m N-S; 6.5m E-W) was accessed from the spiral stair and was lit by a least two windows, both round-headed single-lights, one in the N and one in the E wall. It is likely there was a third similar window in the S wall but this has been broken out to provide a later doorway. A brick fireplace has been inserted in the NE angle. A small chamber (dims. 5.5m N-S; 2.15m E-W) at the W end of the tower house is lit by three flat-headed loops, two in the W wall, one in the S and an angle loop in the SE angle. This arrangement of main chamber with smaller chamber to the W is repeated at second and third-floor level. The subsidiary chamber at 1st floor level was entered from the spiral stair, though an entrance to it has been broken through at the S end of the dividing wall. The upper subsidiary chambers were entered from the main chamber.

The second floor, entered from the spiral stair, is lit by a flat-headed two-light window in the W end of the N wall, another at the N end of the E wall and another at the W end of the S wall. There is an inserted fireplace with brick surrounds in the S wall. There is a garderobe chamber (L 3.94; Wth 0.84; H 2.06m) accessed from the E side of the N window embrasure. It is lit by a flat-headed loop in the N wall and a loop at the NE angle, with the garderobe itself to the S of the rear of the chamber. There is another mural chamber in the E wall, accessed from the S-side of the E window embrasure.

The third floor is not accessed directly from the spiral stair, but rather is accessed from the garderobe chamber in the N wall. The garderobe chamber is lit by two ogee-headed single-light windows in the N wall, both with expanded circular bases for a gun and there is a cross loop with expanded circular base in the E wall. The main chamber is lit by an ogee-headed two-light mullion and transomed window in the E wall, externally cusped with plain spandrels within a moulded surround, and a cross loop at the E end of the S wall. There is an original polished limestone fireplace at the W end of the S wall with chamfered edge.

The fourth floor appears to be largely or entirely rebuilt. The stair leading up to this level has been altered to accommodate these changes. All the openings and the fireplaces at this level have brick surrounds and the masonry, which is consistent up to and including parapet level, appears to date from the 18th/19th century. The crenellations, which only partially survive, mimick those of an early 17th-century castle.