Donamon Castle, Roscommon, County Roscommon
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. 104. “(Caulfeild, sub Charlemont, V/PB) A c15 castle with a tall arch between its towers, like that at Bunratty Castle, given regular sash windows and Georgian-Gothic battlements towards end of C18 and further altered and enlarged mid c19. Staircase gallery with plaster fan vaulting. Now owned by the Divine Word Missions.”
Dunamon Castle, DUNAMON, County Roscommon
Detached multiple-bay three-storey castellated country house having basement and attic storey, commenced c.1400, extended c.1670, improved and castellated in 1700s and further extended to west in 1855. Now in use by Divine Word Missionaries. Gabled pitched slate roofs behind castellated parapet, castellated towers and parapet to 1855 block. Random rubble limestone walls, and snecked limestone walls to 1855 block. Square-headed window openings to castle with label-mouldings and chamfered limestone surrounds. Tooled chamfered surrounds to windows in 1855 block. Double-height deeply recessed entrance bay containing decorative carved limestone door surround to front elevation, accessed by perron steps. Tudor-arch doorway to basement. Double-height deeply recessed entrance bay to rear elevation with carved sandstone door surround. Eighteenth-century cut limestone L-plan outbuildings to west of building. Ruin of church with graveyard to east. Walled gardens survive to southeast, with pigeon nesting boxes to south-facing wall. Disused icehouse to east, constructed of limestone blocks and comprising long tunnel accessing domed ice pit. Chapel and extensions, built c.1963, now in use as retreat and respite centre.
Appraisal
Dunamon Castle is an exceptional example of a building that has evolved over the six centuries. It incorporates the remains of a tower house, eighteenth-century additions and a substantial nineteenth-century extension. The continuity of occupation of this imposing site, and the importance of those occupants to the history of the area and county, add further historic importance to the site. The setting is enhanced by the outbuildings, walled garden and ruined church, while the 1960s chapel and respite centre provide a contrast in form and architectural detailing to the site.
https://www.geni.com/projects/Historic-Buildings-of-Roscommon/29860
Donamon Castle a.k.a. Dunamon, Restored Castle – one of the oldest inhabited buildings in Ireland overlooking the River Suck. There was a fort here from early times, the first recorded reference to “Dún Iomghain” being in the Annals of the Four Masters for the year 1154. It was the seat of the Ó Fionnachta chief of Clann Chonnmhaigh, one of the two main branches of this Connacht family. In 1232, Adam de Staunton fortified the site further as part of the Norman conquest, but this was retaken and demolished by the native O’Connors the following year. The rebuilt castle was occupied in 1294 by [William de Oddingseles, II William de Oddingseles II, who died in 1295. The de Birminghams then took over but it was again destroyed by the O’Connors and in 1307 replaced by a branch of the Burkes, the head of which was known as MacDavid. The MacDavid Burkes occupied it for the next 300 years. During the seventeenth century wars of conquest and dispossession a junior branch of the Caulfeild family came to own the castle and surrounding territory. They continued to own it throughout the Protestant Ascendancy. In 1939 the Divine Word Missionaries came to Ireland and purchased the castle from the Irish Land Commission. It is still their home in Ireland and the site of the Holiday Centre, a leisure and conference resort as well as being the Irish Wheelchair Association’s National Holiday Centre. In late 1932, an IRA unit, under the command of Seán McCool and Mick Price, took over Donamon Castle to set up an IRA training camp.Donamon Castle a.k.a. Dunamon, Restored Castle – one of the oldest inhabited buildings in Ireland overlooking the River Suck. There was a fort here from early times, the first recorded reference to “Dún Iomghain” being in the Annals of the Four Masters for the year 1154. It was the seat of the Ó Fionnachta chief of Clann Chonnmhaigh, one of the two main branches of this Connacht family. In 1232, Adam de Staunton fortified the site further as part of the Norman conquest, but this was retaken and demolished by the native O’Connors the following year. The rebuilt castle was occupied in 1294 by [William de Oddingseles, II William de Oddingseles II, who died in 1295. The de Birminghams then took over but it was again destroyed by the O’Connors and in 1307 replaced by a branch of the Burkes, the head of which was known as MacDavid. The MacDavid Burkes occupied it for the next 300 years. During the seventeenth century wars of conquest and dispossession a junior branch of the Caulfeild family came to own the castle and surrounding territory. They continued to own it throughout the Protestant Ascendancy. In 1939 the Divine Word Missionaries came to Ireland and purchased the castle from the Irish Land Commission. It is still their home in Ireland and the site of the Holiday Centre, a leisure and conference resort as well as being the Irish Wheelchair Association’s National Holiday Centre. In late 1932, an IRA unit, under the command of Seán McCool and Mick Price, took over Donamon Castle to set up an IRA training camp.
https://theirishaesthete.com/2017/03/29/still-inhabited/
Still Inhabited
Donamon Castle, County Roscommon is said to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited buildings in Ireland. It is believed that originally there was a fort here (whence the name Dún Iomáin, fort of Iomán), but the first recorded reference to the place occurs in the Annals of the Four Masters for the year 1154. In 1232, the Anglo-Norman Adam de Staunton further fortified the site but his works were captured and demolished by the O’Connors a year later. After passing back and forth between different hands, the castle was occupied from the early 14th century onwards by a branch of the Burkes who remained here until in 1688 it passed to the Caulfeilds (the main branch of which became Earls of Charlemont). In the last century, like many other estates Donamon was broken up by the Irish Land Commission, the castle being acquired in 1939 by the Divine Word Missionaries, members of which community remain there to the present time. Although much altered and extended in the 18th and 19th century, the core of the old castle resembles that at Bunratty, County Clare, both front and rear featuring a tall arched recess between square towers.
http://lordbelmontinnorthernireland.blogspot.com/2018/06/donamon-castle.html
THE CAULFEILDS WERE MAJOR LANDOWNERS IN COUNTY ROSCOMMON, WITH 6,632 ACRES
THE REV AND HON CHARLES CAULFEILD (1686-1768), Rector of Donaghenry, County Tyrone, second son of William, 2nd Viscount Charlemont, married Alice, daughter of John Houston, and had issue,
Charles;
JOHN, of whom we treat;
James.
The younger son,
COLONEL JOHN CAULFEILD, of Donamon Castle, County Roscommon, wedded Mary, daughter of Henry Irvine, and had issue,
ST GEORGE, his heir;
Harriet.
Colonel Caulfeild succeeded, in 1778, to the estates of his kinsman, ST GEORGE CAULFEILD, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, grandson of the Hon Thomas Caulfeild, of Donamon, youngest son of William, 2nd Baron Charlemont.
His only son and heir,
ST GEORGE CAULFEILD (1780-1810), of Donamon Castle, espoused, in 1802, Frances, daughter of Sir Edward Crofton, 2nd Baronet, and had issue,
FRANCIS ST GEORGE, his heir;
Harriet; Frances Henrietta.
The only son and heir,
FRANCIS ST GEORGE CAULFEILD JP (1806-96), married, in 1830, Susannah Anne, daughter of Sir Edward Crofton, 3rd Baronet, and had issue,
ST GEORGE FRANCIS ROBERT, his heir;
Alfred Henry;
Emily Susan; Fanny Florence.
Mr Caulfeild was succeeded by his eldest son,
ST GEORGE FRANCIS ROBERT CAULFEILD, who wedded Louisa Ann, daughter of Thomas Russell Crampton, and had issue, an only child,
ALGERNON THOMAS ST GEORGE CAULFEILD JP (1869-1933), of Donamon Castle, County Roscommon, High Sheriff of County Roscommon, 1899.
DONAMON CASTLE, Roscommon, County Roscommon, is a 15th century castle with a lofty arch between its towers, similar to that at Bunratty Castle.
It was enhanced towards the end of the 18th century with sash windows and Gothic-Georgian battlements.
The Castle was enlarged and altered again the in middle of the 19th century.
In 1939 the Divine Word Missionaries came to Ireland and purchased the castle from the Irish Land Commission.
The Missionary Society constructed several new buildings to create a campus for training people before they went into the field.
The Castle itself is still their home in Ireland.
The training campus is now managed by the Irish Wheelchair Association as a holiday centre.
First published in June, 2018.
Irish Historic Houses 