Craggaunowen Castle

Craggaunowen Castle, built in 1550, is a fortified tower house located near Sixmilebridge, County Clare, Ireland. It was built by John MacSioda MacNamara, a descendent of Sioda MacNamara, who built Knappogue Castle in 1467. It stands on a crag overlooking the lake in the grounds of Craggaunowen Park, off the N18 Limerick / Galway road, ten kilometres east of Quin, County Clare. It was left in ruins, uninhabitable and without a roof, in the seventeenth century, and was restored by John Hunt in the 1960s, with an extension added to the ground floor.

The name Craggaunowen comes from the Irish name Creagán Eoghain (Eoghan's little rocky hill).

Craggaunowen was inhabited by various Irish families prior to the collapse of the Old Gaelic order, in the mid to late 17th Century. However, it was rendered uninhabitable by the removal of the roof and staircase, and indefensible by removal off the battlements, about 1653, at the time of the Cromwellian confiscations. The Tower House remained a desolate ruin until it and the estate of Cullane House across the road, were inherited by ‘Honest’ Tom Steele, a confederate of Daniel O’Connell, ‘The Liberator’.

Steele had the castle rebuilt as a summer house in the 1820s and he used it, and the turret on the hill opposite, as places of recreation. His initials can be seen on one of the quoin-stones to the right outside. Following his death the lands were divided, Cullane going to one branch of his family, Craggaunowen to the another. Eventually, having passed through the hands of many of his descendants, the castle and grounds were acquired by the old ‘Land Commission’. Much of the poor quality land was given over to forestry and the castle itself was allowed to fall into disrepair.

The castle was purchased by John Hunt in the 1960s, and restored it to its present condition. The large vaulted room was added in 1967 but it was not until the mid-seventies that work was able to commence to house his collection of artefacts. Much of Mr. Hunt's collection was instead housed in what is now the University of Limerick from 1978 until again being re-housed in Limerick City Custom House in 1995.

External links

• Craggaunowen Castle from the Shannon Heritage website
• Craggaunowen - The Living Past Experience
• Photos of Craggaunowen Castle