Clohaskin Castle, close to the village of Carrig in County Tipperary, is a late twelfth to early thirteenth century hall-house that was constructed by the Earls of Ormond; the castle is rare in that it represents a largely surviving example of an unusual castle type. In 2025 the IHS helped the landowner access state funding for a Conservation and Management plan, before being appointed as part of the project team to complete the plan.

Brief history of the site

Clohaskin (Loughkeen) Castle was built during the Anglo-Norman / English Conquest followed by the settlement of the medieval cantred of Ormond between the late 12th-early 13th-century, or c. 1185-1220 AD . It was probably built around the same time as the Butler castle at Nenagh, Co. Tipperary was constructed. In 1185 AD under the English Conquest of Ireland, Prince John, Lord of Ireland and son of Henry King of England, granted his subject Theobald Walter 5½ cantreds in Kingdom of Limerick which included the ‘borough of Killaloe & the ½ cantred of Trucheked Maleth in which it lay, & the cantreds of Elykarval [Ely O’Carroll], Elyochgardi [Eliogarty], Euermond [Ormond], Aros and Wedene [Arra & Owney], & Woedeneoccadelon & Wodeneoiderna [Owneybeg, Clanwilliam& Coonagh, Co. Limerick]’.

Clohaskin Castle was one of four Butler Manorial Castles standing within the Lordship of Lackagh, Skehanagh, Loughkeen, Clohaskin, Castletown, Carrig, Faddan, Ballykinash, Killeen & Croghan which measured 1,831 Irish acres in size. The manorial lands consisted of 949 Irish acres of arable land, 82 Irish acres of meadow, 40 Irish acres of pasture, 30 Irish acres of shrubby wood, 180 Irish acres of Timber woodland, and 100 Irish acres of bogland. The manorial lands had a value of £72 10 shillings per annum in 1640. The other castles within this lordship included Lackagh Castle, Castletown (SMR No. TN008-013001-) and Carrig Castle (SMR No. TN005-030001-). In 1640 this Butler manor was in the possession of the Countess of Ormond, inherited from her ancestors who were the medieval Lords of Ormond. The 1654 Civil Survey of Tipperary described the ruinous condition of Clohaskin Castle, when it recorded that ‘Uppon the sd Lordshipp stands ye ruines of fower cottages castles (vizt) Leckagh, Castletowne demolished, Aghnacaragy the walls onely standing, and Glahaskine demolished’. The castle was described as ‘demolished’ by 1654; according to this survey the castle was partially destroyed during the ‘late warrs’ which is presumably a reference to the Irish Confederate Wars of 1641-53 AD. Although it is possible that the reference also related to the earlier Elizabethan Wars in Ireland, aka ‘The Nine Years’ War/Tryone’s Rebellion between 1593-1603 AD.

References

• Sweetman, P.D. 1998. The Hall-House in Ireland. Archaeology Ireland 12, No. 3, 13-16.
• Sweetman, P.D. 1999. Medieval Castles of Ireland.
• Simington, R.C. 1934. The Civil Survey AD 1654-56. County Tipperary Volume 2.