Castle Park, Limerick, Co Limerick – ‘lost’ 

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. 74. “(Delmege/IFR) A two storey five bay mid-C18 house, regarded by the Knight of Glin as possibly by Francis Bindon. Floating pediment with lunette window supported – in a characteristically Bindon manner – on the keystone of the Venetian window below it; which is itself above a tripartite pedimented doorcase with banded piers. At one end of the house is a three sided bow and a single-storey wing; at the other end, a screen wall joins it to the stump of an old tower-house, which is treated as a pavilion. The roof of the house is concealed by a high parapet like a blind attic which is higher than the pediment; and which was finished off with Irish battlements early in C19, at the same time as the wing, the screen wall and the old tower were similarly crenellated. Sold 1969.” 

In Blake, Tarquin. Abandoned Mansions of Ireland II: More Portraits of Forgotten Stately Homes. Collins Press, Cork, 2012. 

https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/21900502/castle-park-ballygrennan-co-limerick

Castle Park, BALLYGRENNAN, County Limerick 

Detached five-bay two-storey country house, built c. 1750, comprising floating pediment to front (south) elevation, full-height canted bay to east elevation having extension adjoining remodelled tower house to east with crenellated curtain wall. Two-bay four-storey extension to rear (north) elevation. Now in disuse. Rendered parapet with limestone eaves course, rendered chimneystacks and remains of limestone crenellations to roofline. Rendered walls having limestone quoins, plinth course and cornice. Square-headed window openings with limestone sills, some with remains of timber sliding sash windows. Venetian window to first floor having limestone surround, keystone to central opening and limestone sill. Lunette to pediment with limestone surround, keystone and sill. Square-headed opening with carved limestone surround comprising pilasters, pediment and scrolled consoles over spoked fanlight over timber panelled double-leaf doors with flanking square-headed sidelights having limestone surrounds. Square-plan remodelled tower house to east having rendered walls with limestone quoins. Square-headed window openings having limestone sills. Pair of square-profile limestone piers with sweeping rendered walls having crenellated limestone copings and plinth courses. 

Appraisal 

This substantial house, attributed to Francis Bindon, displays characteristic features of his work such as the lunette resting on the Venetian window’s keystone. Built in different phases, the house retains its eighteenth-century façade with earlier fabric to the rear elevation. Castle Park is distinguished by its finely carved limestone dressings, which are indicative of the skill of eighteenth-century craftsmen. Battlements were added in the nineteenth century, when the castle style of architecture was in vogue. 

 
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=C 

is it this one? 

The original building was a residence of the O’Briens of Thomond. Wilson, writing in 1786 refers to Castle-Park as the seat of Mr. Smith. In 1789 it became Ormsby property and was named Blackland Castle. The home of William Maunsell in 1814. In 1833 it became the property of Christopher Delmege who rebuilt most of it. The Ordnance Survey Field Name Book describes it as “a splendid edifice 4 story high overlooking the Shannon and estimated at £2,000.” The house was valued at £55 in the early 1850s and Christopher Delmege held it from the Marquess of Lansdowne. It was the seat of James O’Grady Delmege in 1894. Occupied by James Lyons, Limerick city coroner in the late 20th century, the house was gutted by fire in 2001 and for sale in 2007 for 40 million euro (Irish Independent 20 Dec 2007). Caste Park remains derelict.