Fanning’s Castle: A Tower House in Limerick, Ireland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Ireland
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Irish
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
History
Fanning’s Castle, also known as Whitamore’s Castle, is a partly ruined tower house in Limerick, Ireland, built around 1641 by Dominic Fanning, who served as Mayor of Limerick. A tower house was a fortified residence arranged vertically, with thick masonry walls and defensive features. The castle stands on King’s Island, off Creagh Lane and Mary Street, opposite the tholsel, a historic civic building used for local administration and related commercial or legal activities.
The building was originally five storeys high, while four storeys remain visible above ground. Its walls consist of roughly squared limestone blocks of varying sizes. The surviving windows include ogee curves, which have an S-shaped profile, and mullions, the vertical members that divide sections of a window. A turret staircase and battlements formed part of the structure’s defensive and internal arrangement.
Fanning’s Castle is designated a National Monument of Ireland, a legal status recognizing archaeological or historical importance and providing protection for the site.
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