Castle Ffogarty, Thurles, Co Tipperary
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 67. “(Ryan-Lenigan/LGI1912; Ryan/IFR) A rather insubstantial C19 castle; burnt 1922 and now a ruin except for one tower which has been rebuilt. The seat of the Ffogarty family, from whom it passed by inheritance successively to the Lenigan, Ryan-Lenigan and Ryan families.”
Listed in Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland by The Knight of Glin, David J. Griffin and Nicholas K. Robinson, published by The Irish Architectural Archive and The Irish Georgian Society, 1988.
p. 133. A large two storey early 19C castle built for the Ffogartys and destroyed by fire in 1922. In ruins.
Detached castellated house, largely a rebuilding c.1800 of earlier Georgian house, the whole destroyed by fire 1922 and one tower restored. An L-shaped house with courtyard to rear formerd by outbuildings. Front, east entrance block comprises three-storey square-plan projecting end towers, that to south-east having cap house to roof and central three-storey projecting polygonal tower built c.1840, flanking two-bay recessed parts. South block is five-bay three-storey with square-plan tower to west end. Maainly roofless. Rendered walls throughout having buttresses to towers and between bays of south block and crenellations supported on corbels throughout, with string courses to recessed bays and to towers of front block. Square-headed openings throughout except for ground floor of front block which are pointed and have hood mouldings. Croix pommées to towers. Coat of arms with motto in irish to one tower. Dressed limestone entrance gate piers with shell-shaped capstones and recent steel gates and railings with rubble plinths. Dressed limestone entrance gate piers with shell-shaped capstone. Steel gates.
Appraisal
Castle Fogarty is a typical Gothic Revival ‘castle’ replete with towers and crenellations. It is clearly the rsult of several periods of construction and a remodelling of an earlier house. It is a well-built structure with good detailing as seen in the string courses, buttresses and imitation loops. It presents a gaunt ruin in the landscape today.
Irish Historic Houses 