Bawn, Maryfort Or Lismeehan, Co. Clare
In the gently rolling pastures and parkland of what was once the Maryfort Estate in County Clare, the remains of a medieval fortification tell a story of 15th-century power and defence.
Bawn, Maryfort Or Lismeehan, Co. Clare
The site, also known as Lismeehan, features a distinctive raised platform or bawn rock that has been shaped over centuries into an oval defensive earthwork measuring roughly 24 metres from west-northwest to east-southeast and 18 metres across its width. The earth has been built up to create steep protective scarps on multiple sides, with the western slope rising 1.2 metres and the eastern reaching 2.4 metres in height, whilst the northern and southern approaches present more gradual inclines.
At the heart of this defensive platform sit the ruins of a castle constructed sometime between 1420 and 1440 by either Mahon or Rory MacNamara, making it one of Clare’s earlier stone castles. The MacNamaras, a powerful Gaelic family in the region, chose to build their stronghold atop what may have been an even older fort or earthwork, continuing a long tradition of reusing defensive sites. The castle ruins occupy the centre of the bawn’s summit, which forms a compact area approximately 12 by 11 metres.
Time and human activity have left their marks on the site; quarrying appears to have taken place at the east-northeast and west-southwest sections of the bawn, whilst irregular chunks of masonry from the castle can be found scattered amongst the briars growing along the south-southeast side. Despite these alterations, the site still commands reasonable views across the surrounding landscape, though it is itself overlooked by higher ground to the west-northwest, a reminder that even defensive positions had their vulnerabilities.