Cloghan Castle, County Offaly
| Cloghan Castle | |
|
County Offaly | |
|---|---|
 Cloghan Castle | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | M97261195 |
| Location: | 53°9’30"N, 8°2’30"W |
| Village: | Lusmagh |
| History | |
| Information | |
Cloghan Castle is a castle made into a grand country house in Lusmagh in County Offaly.
The first building here was a monastery by St Crónán in 600. The Normans fortified the remains of the monastery in 1203 by building a defensive wall around it, a part of which still exists.
The Gaelic Chieftain Eoghan O’Madden built the castle keep in 1336.[1] His kingdom stretched to the west as far as Loughrea in County Galway.
The castle was attacked and razed in 1595 by Sir William Russell, the Lord Deputy, and confiscated for the Crown.[2] It was granted, together with 6,000 acres, to Sir John Moore in 1601 and he was responsible for the existing oak beamed roof. Sir John though was sacked from his Government post when it was discovered that he was a Roman Catholic. The castle remained in the Moore family until it was taken by Cromwellian soldiers in 1654. They remained in residence until 1683 when King Charles II granted it to Garret Moore. The castle was garrisoned by the Jacobites in 1689 and 1690 and remains of their gun emplacements can still be seen in the grounds.[1]
The Moores were good landlords and tried their best to alleviate the suffering of their tenants in the Great Famine of 1845 to 1847. As a result of the Famine, the Moores became bankrupt and had to sell the lands.
The estate was purchased by Dr Robert Graves, the Dublin Doctor who discovered Graves Disease of the thyroid, at the insistence of his wife.[3] He died a year after purchasing the castle. After his death, his widow evicted up to 100 tenants from the property.[4] His grandson sold it in 1908 before emigrating to Australia, where his descendants still live.
The land of Lusmagh was eventually taken over by the Land Commission, and divided among the local tenant farmers around 1910.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Thompson, B.D., Cloghan Castle, Lusmagh, Banagher, Ireland: 1400 years of living history, 1994.
- ↑ Lewis, S., A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837.
- ↑ Cooke, Jim, The Graves Family in Ireland, Dublin Historical Record (Old Dublin Society) 50 (1): 25–39, 1997.
- ↑ Lusmagh, County Offaly, Ireland, Killeens of Dublin Ireland. Retrieved on 27 January 2013.
- Cloghan Castle, County Offaly: Buildings of Ireland