The O’Callaghan Castles

In order to defend their territory, the O'Callaghans erected several castles. More than likely those early castles were fortified rectangular towers. The castles of Dromore and Gortmore are no longer in existence. Still standing are the remains of the castles of Clonmeen and Dromaneen.

Clonmeen Castle

Clonmeen Castle, a principal fortress of the O'Callaghans, once stood on the south bank of the Blackwater River a short distance from the village of Banteer. The castle is no more, having been destroyed in the mid-seventeenth century wars. All that remains today is the external curtain wall measuring three feet wide and enclosing the field in which the castle once stood. Clonmeen was likely a fortified mansion erected in the early seventeenth century on the foundation of an earlier structure. The castle was defended by four round towers at the corners of the curtain wall. The walls were about five and a half feet wide. Gun loops set at regular intervals provided for defense.

The Exterior Curtain Wall of Clonmeen Castle

Clonmeen Churchyard

Just a short distance to the west of the ruins of Clonmeen Castle is a churchyard where generations of O'Callaghans were interred. A plaque on the exterior wall of the churchyard tells us that in 1647 Alasdair Mac Donnell who was killed in the battle of Knocknanuss was buried there. In the midst of the graves are the ruins of an Augustinian Priory established by the O'Callaghans in the fifteenth or sixteenth century but suppressed by King Henry VIII. In front of the abandoned priory is a tiny stone church dating from the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Entrance is gained through a small door with a pointed arch in the Gothic style. The slates once covering the roof have fallen to the floor. The gravestone of Cornelius O'Callaghan (d. 1739), decorated with his coat of arms, probably lies under those slates.