Leamaneh Castle: A Gaelic Irish Tower House and Mansion Complex
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Ireland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Irish
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page9 sections
History
Leamaneh Castle is a ruined castle complex in Ireland, at Leamaneh North in County Clare. Built within the Gaelic Irish tradition, it began as a late medieval tower house constructed around 1480–1490, probably for Toirdhealbhach Donn Ó Briain of the O’Brien dynasty. The site stood at a crossroads between Corofin and Kilfenora, where the baronies of Burren, Corcomroe, and Inchiquin met.
The O’Brien Estate
In 1543, Toirdhealbhach Donn’s son Murrough surrendered his title as King of Thomond, a Gaelic lordship in west-central Ireland, to Henry VIII. He became the first Earl of Thomond and Baron Inchiquin. Murrough transferred Leamaneh to his third son, Donough O’Brien, in 1550. Donough was hanged in Limerick in 1582 as a rebel.
In 1639, Donough’s grandson Conor O’Brien married Máire Nic Mhathúna, known as Máire Rua, or “Red Mary,” because of her red hair. Her first husband, Daniel O’Neylan of Dysert O’Dea Castle, had died young, leaving her a substantial estate and £1,000. This wealth allowed Máire Rua and Conor to expand the fortified residence with a more comfortable mansion.
War and Transformation
Around 1648, part of the original tower house was demolished and replaced by the four-storey mansion. Máire Rua accompanied Conor during raids against English settlers. Conor was mortally wounded at Inchicronan in 1651 while fighting for the Royalists, who supported the monarchy during the wars of the 1640s and 1650s.
Tradition holds that after Conor’s death, Máire Rua went to Limerick and offered to marry an officer of Cromwell’s army to avoid forfeiture of her property. Another version places the remarriage in 1653. Her third husband, Cornet John Cooper, served in Cromwell’s Parliamentary forces, the armies supporting the English Parliament in the same conflicts. Their marriage allowed her to retain her estates, although Cooper later experienced financial difficulties and the Leamaneh estate was mortgaged to repay his debts.
General Ludlow, commander of Parliamentary forces at Inchicronan, later led counter-insurgency operations in the Burren. He described Leamaneh as strongly built of stone and enclosed by a good wall. Parliamentary forces installed a garrison there and supplied it with provisions. Cromwellian troops occupied the castle intermittently during the 1660s.
Removal of the Family Seat
Máire Rua’s son Donagh, later Sir Donat O’Brien, was raised as a Protestant, while her children by Daniel O’Neylan were raised as Catholics. Donagh found the tower house and mansion damaged but continued to live at Leamaneh until 1684 or 1685, when he moved the family seat to the larger Dromoland Castle at Newmarket-on-Fergus. He later became known as the “richest commoner in Ireland.”
Sir Donat built a toll road between Killnaboy and Leamaneh, parts of whose flanking stone walls survive. He served as Sheriff of Clare in 1690 and represented County Clare in Parliament from 1695 to 1713. He died in 1717. By 1678, the estate had grown to more than 10,000 acres.
Decline and Protection
Leamaneh had several later occupants but fell into ruin at the end of the eighteenth century. In 1906 or 1908, Lucius O’Brien, fifteenth Baron Inchiquin, arranged for the barbican-like entrance gates to be moved to Dromoland Castle. The most elaborate fireplace was moved to the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis. Leamaneh is designated a National Monument of Ireland.
Remains
The surviving complex brings together the remains of a five-storey tower house and the four external walls of the adjoining four-storey mansion. The buildings stand beside one another within privately owned farmland. Remains of outbuildings, a walled garden, and a deer park can also be seen, while the high wall that once enclosed the castle no longer survives.
Medieval Tower House
The tower house, built around 1480–1490, is a fortified residential stone tower of the type found in late medieval Ireland. Its surviving features include narrow arrow slits, also called loops, a spiral staircase, and numerous small rooms. These elements formed part of a compact defensive and domestic arrangement.
Seventeenth-Century Mansion
The adjoining mansion was built around 1648 as a more comfortable residence. Its tall windows are divided vertically by stone mullions and horizontally by transoms. The upper-storey windows are smaller than those below, creating a visual illusion that makes the building appear taller than it is. The mansion survives through its four external walls.
Estate Features and Relocated Elements
The wider grounds retain traces of the former estate through outbuildings, a walled garden, and a deer park. The estate’s former barbican-like gates now stand at Dromoland Castle, and the most elegant fireplace is preserved at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis. Portions of the stone walls along Sir Donat O’Brien’s toll road also remain, although the toll houses have been demolished.
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