Gleninagh Castle

On level ground in good pasture on the S shore of Galway Bay approximately midway between Ballyvaughan and Black Head and c. 60m S of a raised shingle beach. A 16th century 4-storey rectangular tower house (ext. dims. 8.7m E-W; 6.9m N-S) with a stair tower protruding (2.95m) at SE creating an L-shape. It was occupied until the mid 19th century and has been conserved by the Office of Public Works. Although Gleninagh was essentially an O’Loughlin stronghold from 1574, the earliest reference is to the granting of Gleninagh to Richard Harding by King Henry VIII in 1544 (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). In the early 17th century the lands were owned by the see of Kilfenora and in 1650 Murrough O’Brien is known to have sailed into exile from Gleninagh during the Cromwellian campaign (ibid.). The O’Loughlin’s then regained possession and remained until the 19th century (Salter 2004, 38). The OS Letters (vol. 1, 205) state that the castle was then ‘in good repair and thatched with straw which gives it rather a homely appearance’.

The castle is built of coursed but crudely dressed limestone blocks with good quoins (wall T. c. 1.15m) and there is a slight base batter. The stairs tower is at the SE corner and the other three corners have rounded corner bartizans at the top. The original windows are simple slits apart from a two-light ogee-head on the third floor. The attic level was added in the 17th century when some windows with hood mouldings were inserted. The castle is entered through a pointed doorway in the W wall of the stairs tower that is approached by a ramp from the S and is protected by a box machicolation at 4th floor level. There is a hanging-eye inside the N jamb and wickerwork centring in the embrasure. A pointed door from the lobby leads down one step into the barrel-vaulted ground-floor chamber (6m E-W; 4.35m N-S) which is lit by rectangular windows with splayed embrasures in the E, S and W walls and two in the N wall with a small cupboard in between.

Salter (2004, 38) refers to a subterranean ‘pit-prison’ while Ua Cróinín (1997) describes a ‘window-less vaulted cellar’ and illustrates a trapdoor on the floor on his ground plan. On inspection in 1999 there was no evidence of such a trap door. There would appear to be space for a chamber given that the lowest slit windows on the N wall are at 2.5m in height and the lowest floor accessible through the entrance is significantly higher than the outside ground level.

The first floor is entered through a pointed doorway with a hanging eye on the E jamb and is lit by a rectangular window with a square hood moulding in the S wall and by a double rectangular window in the N wall. The embrasures are flat or elliptical. A blocked fireplace with chamfered edges in the W wall blocks a simple rectangular light on the outside wall. There are cupboards in each of the N and W walls. Corbels in the N and S walls supported the upper floor. A small doorway at the N end of the E wall led to a garderobe, the ope for which is visible on the N wall face.

The loft or second floor could only be reached by an internal wooden ladder and trap-door. It has a blocked light in the W wall and a light in the E wall and there are traces of wicker centring in the vault.

The 17th-century 3rd floor on the next level is slightly higher than the original as the earlier windows are lower than the inserted rectangular ones. This floor is entered through a lintelled doorway. It is lit by two-light rectangular windows with square hood mouldings in the S and N walls and a two-light rectangular window in the E wall. A slightly lower embrasure at an awkward angle is immediately E of the S window. An inserted fireplace blocks a second two-light ogee-headed window in the N wall. A garderobe at the NW angle has a short chute that emerges on the N wall and is blocked off. There are two cupboards in the W wall. Corbels in the N and S walls supported the roof and beam-holes are present above the corbels. According to Westropp (1900, 424) ‘a stone can be raised in the top landing, disclosing a slit for the defence of the staircase’.

The walls of the attic were built on the outer face of the tower walls allowing no parapet. The W and N walls each have a chimney stack and the E and S walls have simple rectangular lights. The corner bartizans are incorporated with the attic and would have been accessed from it. Each bartizan has five circular pistol loops. A former extra level on the stairs tower is evidenced by gutter-holes at the string course.

The line of a possible bawn (CL002-007009-) can be seen immediately W of the tower house. The foundations of a small building (CL002-007007-) of uncertain date lie c. 18m to the N. Tobernacrovaneeve holy well (CL002-007002-) lies c. 18m to the SW and Gleninagh church (CL002-008002-) and graveyard (CL002-008003-) lie c. 200m to the S. A fulacht fia (CL002-007004-) is 60m to the NE and two uncertain examples are close to the castle, c. 30m to the NNW and c. 8m to the E respectively.

Gleninagh castle is a National Monument in State care, no. 509.