“Built by [Richard Bourke 1572-1635] the fourth earl of Clanricarde, Portumna Castle was the de Burgo family power base for centuries.
“The castle is a unique example of the transitional Irish architecture of the early 1600s. Its bold design combines elements of medieval and Renaissance style that complement each other perfectly.
“A major fire in 1826 left the castle a roofless shell, but the state began to bring it back from ruin in the 1960s. Restoration work continues to this day.
“The dramatic walk up to the building includes charming formal gardens, which create an enchanting sense of the original seventeenth-century setting. The walled kitchen garden is particularly memorable.
“The castle enjoys a sensational view of Lough Derg. The ground floor is open to the public and houses an exhibition that brings the story of the castle and the de Burgo family to life. It is right beside the River Shannon and Portumna Forest Park, which makes it a great choice for a delightful day out.“
Richard Bourke 4th Earl of Clanricarde was brought up and educated in England. He fought on the side of the English against Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and was knighted on the field at the battle of Kinsale. He was a protege of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and married Frances Walsingham, who was the widow of the poet Philip Sydney (1554-1586) and of Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex (1566-1601), favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.
Portrait of Frances Walsingham, along with her husband Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and in the small picture, Sir Philip Sydney.
The castle was built around 1616 and is a mixture of defensive Elizabethan/Jacobean building and a manor house, marking the transition in building styles. In this is it similar to Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin, which was built around 1583. It retains defensive structures such as machicolations (floor openings in the battlements, through which stones, or other objects, could be dropped on attackers), shot holes, and strong corner towers, and surrounding walls with gunloops and crenellated towers.
The back is similar to the front, except for the addition in around 1797 of a curved porch of Jacobean style in the middle of the garden front (probably in the time of the 12th Earl of Clanricarde who died in December 1797 and was elevated to be a Marquess). I loved the curving steps up to this round door entrance.
Before building Portumna Castle, the principal seat of the Earls of Clanricarde was a castle in Loughrea. As well as building Portumna, the 4th Earl refurbished the castles at Aughnanure and Athenry, amongst others. The Clanricarde earls also owned Clarecastle, Oranmore and Kilcolgan castles.
Aughnanure Castle County Galway, photograph courtesy of OPW website.This was also refurbished by the 4th Earl of Clanricarde.Athenry Castle, County Galway, photograph courtesy of OPW website. This was also refurbished by the 4th Earl of Clanricarde.
The descendants of William de Burgo adopted Irish customs and clothing. Ulick Burke of Clanricarde (d. 1544) became Earl of Clanricarde and Baron of Dunkellin, and was one of the earliest Irish Chiefs to accept Henry VIII’s policy of “surrender and regrant,” accepting Henry VIII as his sovereign.
Ulick’s son Richard, 2nd Earl of Clanricarde, fought the Irish for the British crown.
The castle passed to the 4th Earl’s son Ulick who succeeded as 5th Earl of Clanricarde (d. 1657) and who was created 1st Marquess of Clanricarde. and then to a cousin, Richard (d. 1666), who became 6th Earl of Clanricarde.
Portrait of Ulick, 5th Earl of Clanricarde (d. 1657). He was created Marquess of Clanricarde. He was Lord Deputy and Commander in Chief of Royalist forces against Cromwell in 1649. His Irish estates were lost but then recovered by his widow after the restoration of Charles II to the throne.
The 6th Earl married Elizabeth Butler, daughter of Walter Butler, 11th Earl of Ormond and had daughters so the title passed to his brother William (d. 1687), 7th Earl of Clanricarde.
The 7th Earl’s son Richard the 8th Earl (died 1708) succeeded his father and despite marrying several times had no male heirs, so was succeeded by his brother John, 9th Earl (d. 1722). John was created Baron Burke of Bophin, County Galway, by King James II. He fought on the Jacobite side and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Aughrim in 1691. He was declared an outlaw and the Clanricarde estates were forfeited to the King, but the outlawry was reversed twelve years later on the payment of a whopping £25,000. His son Michael the 10th Earl succeeded him (d. 1726) and fortunately he married well, to Anne Smith daughter of John Smith, Chancellor of the Exchequer, widow of Hugh Parker of Meldford Hall, Sussex, whose income helped to restore the family fortunes.
The 11th Earl, John Smith de Burgh (1720-1782) changed his surname from Bourke to De Burgh.
The 13th Earl, John Thomas De Burgh (1744-1808), brother of the 12th Earl, was created again 1st Earl of Clanricarde, an Irish Peer, on 29 December 1800, with special remainder to his daughters, if he had no male heir. One daughter, Hester, married Howe Peter Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo, and the other, Emily, married Thomas St Lawrence, 3rd Earl of Howth.
John Thomas De Burgh (1744-1808) 13th Earl of Clanricarde was created 1st Earl of Clanricarde, Co. Galway.
His son, Ulick (1802-1874), became the 1st Marquess Clanricarde (of the 3rd creation), and also Baron of Somerhill, Kent. It was during his tenure that the fire occurred. He married Harriet Canning, daughter of Prime Minister George Canning. Ulick was described as being immensely rich.
Ulick John De Burgh, 14th Earl and 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (1802-1874).Harriet Canning, Countess of Clanricarde (1804-1876), married to Ulick John De Burgh, 14th Earl and 1st Marquess of Clanricarde (1802-1874).
Amazing work has been done to reconstruct the castle after the fire. The Commissioners of Public Works acquired the castle in 1968 for preservation as a national monument.
Portumna Castle 1946, photograph from Dublin City Archives and Library. [3]Portumna Castle, County Galway, July 2021.The sign board tells us that the Commissioners of Public Works acquired the castle in 1968 for preservation as a National Monument.Portumna Castle, County Galway, July 2021.Portumna Castle, County Galway, July 2021.The information board tells us that the collapsed spine wall and oak floor beams were reinstated to the original design, based on detailed survey work of surviving features and documentary evidence, including early floor layout plans. The limestone handrail in front of the building was reinstated based on one surviving fragment.Portumna Castle, County Galway, July 2021.The board tells us that the roof trusses are Irish oak. Studies were made of surviving roof timbers of buildings that would have been built around the same time, such as Carrick-on-Suir castle and Rathfarnham Castle.Portumna Castle, County Galway, July 2021.Window mullions were repaired with resin.There was a carriageway road built in either the late 19th or early 19th century, and a well in what was the kitchen.
After the fire the family built a Ruskinian Gothic mansion by Sir Thomas Newenham Deane at the opposite end of the park. Mark Bence-Jones tells us that the new house was not much lived in by the family, for 2nd and last Marquess of Clanricarde, who succeeded 1874, was “the notorious miser and eccentric who spent his life in squalid rooms in London and dressed like a tramp.”
The 2nd Marquess, Hubert George De Burgh-Canning, “the notorious miser and eccentric who spent his life in squalid rooms in London and dressed like a tramp.”
The 2nd Marquess, Hubert George De Burgh-Canning, who died 1916, left Portumna to his great-nephew, Viscount Henry George Charles Lascelles, afterwards 6th Earl of Harewood and husband of Princess Mary (daughter of King George V), because it was said that he was the only member of his family who ever went to see him. The 1862 house was burnt 1922; after which Lord Harewood, when he came here, occupied a small house on the place. Portumna was sold when he died in 1947. [4]
Elizabeth de Burgh, who married Henry Thynne Lascelles, 4th Earl of Harewood. She was the sister ofthe 2nd Marquess, Hubert George De Burgh-Canning.Pictured, the marriage of Princess Mary to Viscount Lascelles.
The castle had a long gallery on the second storey, similar to that in the Ormond Castle in Carrick-on-Suir. Long galleries originated in Italy and France and became fashionable in England after 1550. They were often sparsely furnished and were used for indoor exercise.
The exhibition tells us about various positions of servants in a castle. I was amused by the description of the job of a footman. We are told that they were kept largely for “ornamental” purposes and had to be fairly tall and good-looking, and their wages even rose with their height! Some padded their silk stockings to make their calves look more shapely!
Tourist Accommodation Facility – not open to the public Open for accommodation: January 2-December 24
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In 2023 Claregalway is listed in Section 482 as accommodation and is no longer open to the public, unfortunately! We were lucky to visit during Heritage Week in 2022. I am sure it will continue to host events and tours – keep an eye on the website. Accommodation is in the auxiliary buildings in the bawn but one may have access inside the tower house itself.
The tower house dates to the early half of the fifteenth century, according to radio carbon dating [1]. Across the road is the Franciscan Friary of Claregalway, built in 1240. The tower of the Abbey was built 200 years later, around 1440.
The castle is part of the Barony of Clare, an administrative barony formed in the sixteenth century. The other major castle in this territory is Corofin. Before being designated a barony the area was part of the kingdom of Magh Seóla (“the level plain.” It was Clanricarde Burke territory, and the castle was damaged in battles between the Burkes of Clanricarde and the Burkes of Mayo.
The castle website tells us:
“Located on a low crossing point of the River Clare, the castle controlled water and land trade routes, exacted tolls, and maintained Clanricarde Burke authority in the surrounding countryside, a region known in pre-Norman times as Magh Seóla (the level plain). By 1580, there was a network of Clanricarde Burke castles stretching from Lough Corrib to the River Shannon. The castle once had a six metre high bawn/defensive wall, an imposing gate-house, a moat as well as other buildings including a dining hall.“
An article in the Galway Review from July 8th 2010 by Declan Varley tells us that the castle belongs to an eye surgeon Mr Eamon O Donoghue who has funded and overseen the restoration of the castle for the past decade, bringing in some of Europe’s top stonemasons and conservationists to ensure that the castle is returned to its original state. A major reconstruction programme was planned by conservation architect David Johnson, a former inspector of national monuments with The Office of Public Works, and and archaeologist Leo Swan was also involved.
When he purchased the castle, Eamon tells us in a lecture that one can view online, there were trees growing out of the top! [2] Mr. O’Donoghue studied archaeology in Maynooth for a few years, so this probably influenced him to make the decision to buy the castle.
The ancillary buildings also influenced O’Donoghue’s decision to purchase the castle and its surrounds. Evidence for a bawn was discovered, including the base of bawn turrets, and a mill pond, a gatehouse and a moat. A tower house was generally surrounded by an enclosed space called a bawn, which would contain ancillary buildings such as a bakehouse, brewhouse, chapel, storehouses, guard accommodation, and in the case of Claregalway, a mill. Farmers and fishermen would have lived outside the bawn.
The castle was owned by John Buckley Jr (formerly of Spiddal House), then living in Indonesia, who agreed to sell. When purchased, the tower was roofless and had no upper floors at all, it was just a shell. The roof of the castle had been removed in 1653, following the Siege of Galway by Cromwellian forces. When restoring, Mr. O’Donoghue did research to determine what sort of turret the castle would have had, and determined from what remained that it was probably similar to Isert Kelly Castle. Isert Kelly Castle was the principal seat of the MacHubert Burkes from the early 1400s. The three storey tower house was stronghold to the MacHuberts, later passing hands to the MacRedmonds, both of whom were branches of the De Burgo (Burke) family. [3]
O’Donoghue engaged many architects including Rory Sherlock. He had stonemasons from the Companions Guild in France, including Jean Baptise Maduit, the now current master mason from Chartres, who believed the belfry of the abbey, built in 1433, was built by the same person who built the tower house. The stonemasons in the Companions Guild in France have a seven year apprenticeship.
We came across the Claricarde Burkes on our visit to Portumna Castle in County Galway. William de Burgo (d. 1205) came to Ireland with Prince John in 1185, and was granted lands stretching from Cashel to Limerick. His brother Hubert, the castle website tells us, was a Justiciar of England. In 1193 William married the daughter of Donal Mor O’Brien, King of Thomond, thus securing a good relationship with the native rulers. His son Richard (d. 1241) suceeded him and was known as Lord of Connaught. Richard began the feudalisation of Connaught after military conquest. Richard was suceeded by his son Richard (d. 1248) and then Walter, who was created 1st Earl of Ulster.
Information board from Portumna Castle in County Galway.
The descendants of William de Burgo adopted Irish customs and clothing.
The pointed doorway is in the SE wall near the east corner. It opens into a small lobby with a guardroom on the left and a spiral stairway on the right. The tower is vaulted above the second floor. There are several mural passages and mural chambers at different levels and fireplaces at first and second floors. The presence of some corbels at parapet level indicate that there was a machicolation. When one enters the tower house, one sees just how much renovation work has been accomplished. It has been furnished with a collection of wonderful antique oak furniture.
The website tells us of a battle which took place nearby in 1504, the Battle of Knockdoe (Knockdoe in Irish is “cnoc tuagh”, literally “the hill of axes”). The military axe was the traditional weapon of the Irish Galloglass, the professional military caste in medieval Ireland. Literally meaning foreign young men or foreign young warriors, the galloglass had first come into Ireland from the Scottish Isles as early as the 13th century. Over the following centuries these men had established themselves under the patronage of different Gaelic Lords, first in Ulster but soon spread to other parts of the country. [5]
The battle was fought between the Clanricarde Burkes, led by Ulick, who had become the lord of Clanricard in 1485, and a combined force headed by the 8th Earl of Kildare, Gearóid Mór Fitzgerald. The official reason for this battle was that Ulick Burke had aggressively overstepped his authority in Connacht. He also married a sister or daughter of the Earl of Kildare, Eustacia, and she returned home claiming to have been mistreated. Furthermore, Burke was traditionally an ally of the Ormonds, who were enemies of the Fitzgeralds. The Fitzgeralds supported the royal House of York whereas the Ormonds were loyal to King Henry VII.
Near-contemporary accounts of the battle are found in the Annals of Loch Cé, the Annals of Ulster, the Annals of Connacht and the Annals of the Four Masters, as well as in The Book of Howth, a chronicle about the St. Lawrence family, who were represented in the Earl of Kildare’s army. The Book of Howth depicts the battle as an Old English victory over the Gaelic Irish. Interestingly, it portrays Clanricard as a full member of the Gaelic Irish community. The Clanricard de Burgos also used the alternative name of “McWilliam.”
The Garret Mór Fitzgerald (1455-1513), 8th Earl of Kildare, was at the time the crown’s lord deputy in Ireland. He held this office until his death in 1513. Between 1496 and his death Garret Mór did much to uphold and even extend royal power in Ireland and the campaign that led to Knockdoe arguably represents the height of Garret Mór Fitzgerald’s political and military power in Ireland. Although it has been described as a battle between Old English and the Irish, Fitzgerald’s army had many Irish as well, including Hugh Roe O’Donnell of Tyrconnell, some of the O’Neills, the O’Conor Roe, the McDermots of Moylurg, the McMahons from modern-day county Monaghan, the Magennises, the O’Reillys of Cavan, the O’Farrells of Longford, the O’Hanlons of Armagh, the Mayo McWilliam Burkes, and the O’Kellys. (see [5])
The website tells us that this battle took place five kilometres from Claregalway Castle and was one of the largest pitched battles in medieval Irish history, involving an estimated 10,000 combatants.
There was terrible slaughter and Burke’s army was defeated, though he himself survived. At least 3,000 men died in close, hand-to-hand combat.
Afterwards, the website tells us, Fitzgerald captured Claregalway Castle, taking some of Burke’s children as hostages. He then proceeded to Galway city whose mayor provided over 7,000 gallons of wine for the victors to celebrate with.
Ulick Burke of Clanricarde (d. 1544) became Earl of Clanricarde and Baron of Dunkellin, and was one of the earliest Irish Chiefs to accept Henry VIII’s policy of “surrender and regrant,” accepting Henry VIII as his sovereign. The website tells us that he was called in Irish Uileag na gCeann (‘Ulick of the heads/the beheader’), so he had quite a reputation!
The website tells us:
“…known as Ulick of the heads because of his having taken many heads of defeated enemies. This charismatic figure travelled to meet Henry VIII at Greenwich Palace, London. There, as part of Henry’s ‘Surrender and Regrant’ policy in Ireland, Ulick knelt before Henry, accepting his claim as King of Ireland. In return, Ulick was granted the title of Earl of Clanricarde, along with lands and property near Dublin. Prior to visiting England, Ulick married Dame Marie Lynch, a rich widow from Galway city. Marie helped Ulick prepare for English court etiquette, and also taught him some English since Ulick spoke only Gaelic and Latin. Unfortunately, Ulick already had two other wives; Grainne O’ Carroll and his cousin Honora De Burgo. In the following generation, there were bitter wars of succession between the sons from these different marriages, and Connacht suffered as a consequence.“
The website adds that “While at Greenwich, King Henry presented Burke with a gift of the so-called Irish Harp, the national symbol of Ireland, now held at Trinity College Dublin. Tradition says that Ulick brought this famous instrument back to Claregalway Castle with him, where its music likely echoed through the castle’s great hall.“
Ulick’s son Richard, 2nd Earl of Clanricarde, fought the Irish for the British crown. The website tells us that Claregalway castle was the chief fortress of the powerful Clanricard de Burgo or Burke family from the early 1400s to the mid-1600s.
Richard Burke (1572-1635)the 4th Earl of Clanricarde built Portumna Castle which then became the Irish base for the de Burgo, or Burke, family.
Richard Bourke 4th Earl of Clanricarde was brought up and educated in England. He fought on the side of the English against Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and was knighted on the field at the battle of Kinsale. He was a protege of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and married Frances Walsingham, who was the widow of the poet Philip Sydney (1554-1586) and of Robert Devereux, the 2nd Earl of Essex (1566-1601), favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.
The website tells us that Ulick Burke (1604-57), 5th Earl of Clanricarde, spent time at the castle during the late 1640s/early 1650s. He was the Royalist commander in Ireland for King Charles II in the closing stages of the English Civil War which had also extended into Ireland. Correspondence written by Burke from Claregalway Castle to the King survives.
The website tells us: “In 1651 Claregalway Castle was captured by Oliver Cromwell’s commander for Connacht, the brutal Sir Charles Coote (later Earl of Mountrath), who made the castle his headquarters. The English Civil Wars combined with the Irish Rebellion were by then nearly over. Galway, a staunch Royalist stronghold, was the last town in Ireland to yield to Cromwellian forces but only after a dreadful nine month siege prosecuted by Coote. On 5April 1652, Galway’s leaders surrendered the town to Coote at Claregalway Castle. It is probably sometime after this that the castle was slighted, meaning that its battlements and bawn walls were demolished. In the centuries after this, the castle fell into disrepair.“
We learned about this battle for Galway when we visited Oranmore Castle in Galway.
Claregalway Castle, 2022.Claregalway Castle, August 2022.
The ground and first floors are both constructed under a vaulted arched ceiling. We saw a similar ceiling in Oranmore Castle, which did not have the wooden floored upper room within the space.
We then went upstairs to the first floor. Tower houses built in the fifteenth century had complex internal layouts to distinguish the private from the public space.
Typical of tower houses of this period, Claregalway Castle has a great hall on the second floor, which is carried by a principal vault, and this great hall is very tall and open to the underside of the roof. The principal stair ends at the level of the hall, and a second stair rises from that level. Often in the case of towers of this type, this second stair gives access to a wall walk, as well as to lesser upper chambers. Tower houses of this type are heated by a central hearth, and often have window seats and window embrasures with carved rear arches and the windows often have multiple opes and ornate heads.
The tower houses of this type often have ornate arches and arcades on the end wall of the hall, and finely carved corbel courses. Tower houses of this type are found in Galway, Limerick, Cork and Tipperary, and include Barryscourt in County Cork (an OPW property which one can visit, the OPW website tells us that Barryscourt Castle was the seat of the great Anglo-Norman Barry family and is one of the finest examples of a restored Irish Tower House. Dating from between 1392 and 1420, the Castle has an outer bawn wall and largely intact corner towers).
The Great Hall is on the second floor and rises to the underside of the roof. Smoke from the hearth can rise to the open roof space which can be opened by a louver or vent. The apex of the restored roof of Claregalway is 10.74 metres from the floor of the hall, and it was built to impress.
In 1620 Luke Gernon wrote about a visit to a tower house. He writes that the hall is the uppermost room, and once you go up to it, you won’t come down until the next day! You would first be presented by the lady of the house to the drinks of the house: first ordinary ale, then sack, then “olde ale” which you must not refuse. You would then wait by the hearth until dinner was served, and then housed in a chamber for sleep. Next morning you are woken with “aquae vitae.”
The website tells us thatthere was an English military garrison stationed at the castle in the early 1700s. In 1791, a French diplomat, Coquebert de Montbert, passed through Claregalway while on a tour of Connacht. De Montbert described the castle as being in good condition, but without its roof and battlements.
The website tells us that at some point, either in the late 1700s or early 1800 centuries, there was a water-wheel and flax mill in operation at the castle. An etching by Samuel Lover in 1831, and an engraving by the artist William Henry Bartlett from about 1841, show the ruined castle, with the water-wheel, the original eleven-arched bridge beside the castle and the nearby Franciscan Friary.
“Stay in one of our five beautiful rooms (River, Old Mill, Salmon Pool & Abbey) at the Old Mill & Manor House beside the Castle, a peaceful medieval gem on the banks of the River Clare in the village of Claregalway. Just 10km from Galway City Centre and within walking distance of a bus stop, restaurants/bars and the stunning Abbey. The room is very comfortable with under-floor heating and luxurious bedding. Includes complimentary wine, tea/coffee and a generous continental breakfast.
This room is directly adjacent to the Castle tower and you will have access to the tower and the delightful castle grounds.“
Several of the ancilliary buildings contain the rental accommodation. You would be in august company, as in 1931, the actor Orson Welles, then a 16 year old unknown, stayed at the castle for a time as part of his travels in Ireland.
The castle was used by the British as a garrison and as a prison for I.R.A. soldiers during War of Independence, 1919-21. The first Garda Siochána (Irish police force) station in the area was based at the castle for a short time.
Irish Historic Houses 