Gorteens Castle

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Gorteens Castle

County Kilkenny


The remaining gatehouse of Gorteens Castle
Location
Grid reference: S65211359
Location: 52°16’14"N, 7°2’43"W
History
Information
Condition: Ruins

Gorteens Castle is a ruined castle situated on private land in south-east County Kilkenny near the village of Slieverue close to Waterford city. It is in the south-east of the Barony of Ida.

Along with the ruins of Rathpatrick church and another church, it is one of several ruins in Rathpatrick Parish.[1]

The ruin consists of a gatehouse that may have belonged to a larger structure.[2][3]

'Gorteens' comes from the Irish na goirtinsdhe which means little gorts or gardens.[4] Archaeological excavations near the castle in 1993 indicated that the site was used between the 16th and 18th centuries,[3] with further excavations in 2003 identifying additional castle walls and outbuildings.[5]

Owners

The castle was originally the property of the FitzGerald family,[6] the greatest Anglo-Norman dynasty in mediæval Ireland. Gorteens was included in the Down Survey of Ireland in 1656 as being in the Baroniess of Ida, Igrim or Ibercon and in the Parish of Rathpatricke. John FitzGerald, a Roman Catholic, is recorded as being the last FitzGerald holder of Gorteens.[2]

FitzGerald forfeited Gorteens during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, and was initially transplanted to Connaught in December 1653, before being assigned lands in Turlough and in Carra, County Mayo by 1677.[4] The duellist George Robert FitzGerald was descended from this family.[7]

By 1670, the castle at Gorteens was reputedly in the hands of Samuel Skrimsheire or Skrimshaw, a Protestant.[8] In 1700, it was owned by members of the Forstall family.[9][10]

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Gorteens Castle)

References

  1. The Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland: Adapted to the New Poor-law, Franchise, Municipal and Ecclesiastical Arrangements, and Compiled with a Special Reference to the Lines of Railroad and Canal Communication, as Existing in 1814-45. III. A. Fullarton and Company. 1846. p. 139. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Template:Cite report
  3. 3.0 3.1 Ponsford, Michael (1994). "Post-mediæval Britain and Ireland in 1993". Post-Mediæval Archaeology: 119–183. doi:10.1179/pma.1994.006. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Carrigan, William (1905). The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory. IV. Sealy, Bryers & Walker. p. 204. https://books.google.com/books?id=yYUNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA204. ""Under the Cromwellian regime, John Fitzgerald, the head of the family, forfeited [...] Gurteens [..and..] on his transplantation, was assigned [...] other lands in the Barony of Carra, Co. Mayo [...] by Royal letters of May 30th, 1677"" 
  5. Template:Cite report
  6. O'Kelly, Owen (1985). The Place-Names of County Kilkenny. Boethius Press. ISBN 0-9501687-8-5. 
  7. "The Fighting Fitzgerald - George Robert Fitzgerald (1746-1786)". mayo-ireland.ie. http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/towns-villages/turlough/history/fighting-george-robert-fitzgerald.html. Retrieved 15 March 2019. 
  8. "The Down Survey of Ireland". Trinity College Dublin. 2013. http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/landowners.php#l4=Skrimsheire,+Samuel&mc=52.285481,-7.067091&z=13. Retrieved 15 December 2016. 
  9. Arthur, Stanley C., Stanley Clisby Arthur, and George Campbell Huchet de Kernion (2009). Old Families of Louisiana. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 114. 
  10. Hearne, John M.; Rory T. Cornish (2006). Thomas Francis Meagher: The Making of an Irish American. Irish Academic Press. p. 33. https://books.google.com/books?id=Vk0rAQAAIAAJ.