Gormanstown Castle, Gormanstown, Co. Limerick

Gormanstown Castle, Gormanstown, Co. Limerick

Gormanstown Castle once stood on grassland west of the Morningstar River in County Limerick, though today no trace remains visible from aerial photographs.

Gormanstown Castle, Gormanstown, Co. Limerick

The castle appears on historical maps dating back to the 1654-57 Down Survey, where it’s depicted standing beside the river, and on the 1840 Ordnance Survey map, shown within the northern section of a woodland plantation.

The castle belonged to the Fox family, also known as Boskagh, from at least 1574 until 1655. Edmund Fox received a pardon in 1574, and the family maintained control of what was variously called Ballygorman or Gormanstown in Poblebuskagh, also known as Fox’s country. By the time of the 1654-56 Civil Survey, Edmund Fox of Bulgaden held the townlands of Adamstown and Gormanstown, which contained two decayed castles, twelve cabins, and a mill seat. The survey’s description of the castle as “decayed” suggests it was already in poor condition by the mid-17th century.



According to Thomas Westropp’s 1906-7 description, the castle measured approximately 5.3 metres by 2.4 metres internally, with walls 1.14 metres thick. It stood 7.3 metres high and featured a vaulted lower room. The building had two doorways, one facing east and another west; the western door was particularly notable for its carved decoration of crosses and circles. By 1942-3, archaeologist M.J. O’Kelly reported that only a fragment of the west wall remained standing, and even this has since vanished from the landscape.

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O’Kelly, M.J. 1942-3 A survey of the antiquities in the barony of Small County, Co. Limerick. North Munster Antiquarian Journal 3, 75-97, 169-84, 222-46. NLI, MS 718 – National Library of Ireland, Parish maps with terriers, showing forfeited lands in County Limerick, commonly known as the “Down Survey”, executed under the direction of Sir William Petty, 1657, and copied by Daniel O’Brien, 1786. Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1938 The civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. IV: county of Limerick, with a section of Clanmaurice barony Co. Kerry. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission. Westropp, T.J. 1906-7 The ancient castles of the county of Limerick. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 26, 54-264. OSL – Ordnance Survey Letters. Letters written by members of the Ordnance Survey’s ‘Topographical Department’ (T. O’Conor, A. O’Curry, E. Curry, J. O’Donovan and P. O’Keeffe) sent to headquarters from the field (1834-41). MSS in Royal Irish Academy.
Gormanstown, Co. Limerick
52.44275545, -8.49672032
52.44275545,-8.49672032
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