Photos of the Callahan Castles

1. SATELLITE PHOTOS

(Below) One of the three Callahan Castles in Ireland was at Clonmeen just south of the River Blackwater in County Cork, Ireland. It was built around 1590-1610 and was destroyed by war c. 1641. The castle was "destroyed by Sir Richard Kirrell, one of Cromwell's officers." Historical and Topographical Notes: Clonmeen Parish. Two iron cannon balls which battered the walls were excavated in the SE tower by a later property owner, George Grehan. According to Morty Keleher (1907) A load of shot was found in a hole in the ground in the north tower and "There was a lot of small shot found around the castle." The outside walls were approximately square in shape and were each about 250 feet long and three feet thick. At the four corners were circular 2 or 3 story towers with gun "loops" (V-shaped openings) to shoot out from. Inside the walls there was a castle "keep," which has now completely disappeared. That limestone was later used to make a lime kiln. I located the castle ruins using Google maps to search the area near the village of Clonmeen North, south of the River Blackwater. If you want to see a great aerial view of the remains of the castle and move around the area, type in or copy and paste these coordinates into Google Maps 52.138562, -8.864036 The coordinates are for a road intersection. Just a little up and to the right you will see a big square with circular tower remains for 2 of the 4 towers (There are partial remains of a third tower but that's not really visible).There are also often some black and white cows in the field just to the right.There are also several street views of the castle ruins from the road. I captured the screen shot images below using Google Earth Pro.

2. RECONSTRUCTIONS OF CLONMEEN AND DROMANEEN by Kevin L. Callahan

From Gillman (1897:201-202): "The clan is often mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters, and one of the editors, Connellan, writes of the chieftains:

The O'Callaghans are of the Eugenian race [i.e. from Eugene, the eldest son of Olioll 01um],(3) and took their name from Ceallachan Cashel, the celebrated King of Minister, in the tenth century; and accounts of them may be found in the Annals of Innisfallen and the Four Masters. The O'Callaghans, lords of Clonmeen, were in their times very powerful chiefs, and had their principal residence at the Castle of Clonmeen, the ruins of which still remain on a rock near the River Blackwater, county Cork" (p.201-2).

From Gillman:(1897:202)

"Nothing now remains of these ruins save part of the curtain wall enclosing the bawn (which is in shape nearly a square) and remains of the towers at three angles of the square. The keep has wholly disappeared. Further particulars are given in the note below, and a view of the remains of one tower with its rocky foundation is here shown. An earlier seat of the family was Dromaneen Castle, described in a later page, and there were other smaller fortalices in the territory such as Banteer, Gortmore, and Kilpadder, used by branches of the chiefs family. . . .

The Castle of Clonmeen was built on a lime-stone rock, about a field distant from the southern bank of the river Blackwater in the townland of North Clonmeen, a mile and a-half east of the present railway station of Banteer, on the Mallow-Killarney railway. The bawn was nearly a square, each side being about two hundred and seventy-five feet in length, and this was enclosed by a strong curtain wall, three feet thick, crowning the top of the rock, and in places rising twenty feet from the ground outside. This wall was guarded at each of its angles by round towers of two (possibly three) storeys high. The north-western tower has disappeared, but portions of the other three remain. They were fourteen feet in internal diameter, with walls five and a-half feet thick, and each floor has lcops for hand-guns, not only towards the field but also two looking into the bawn itself. The entrance to each tower was at the inner angle of the bawn. The keep has wholly disappeared ; some of its stones appear to have been used in building a limekiln of a quarry close by to the east. The remains of the castle indicate a structure of date 1590-1610, and its builder was, therefore, probably Connoghor O'Callaghan, the chieftain who got a re-grant in 1594 of the lands from the Crown. He is known as "Connoghor of the Rock," and may have used an earlier building than the one whose remains now appear. Possibly the building was added to and rendered stronger by works erected by Donogh, husband of Connoghor's grand-daughter, a famous man in Cromwellian times."

(Below) My reconstruction of the O' Callaghan Fortified House at Dromaneen, Ireland.

From Gillman (1897: 217-218). "Fiant, Eliz., No. 5,903, 2nd December, 1594. The remains of the Castle of Dromaneen still stand on the south bank of the river Blackwater, about two miles west of Mallow. The external curtain walls, which are about three feet thick, enclose a space about 186 feet from east to west, and 77 feet from north to south. A road, still called bohereen-na-spridda, or the "boreen of the spirits" (the origin of the name being lost), leads from the east to the barbican entrance, which is protected by a round tower and a guard room, both loopholed for hand-guns. West of this tower is the outer ward, a space of about 70 feet from north to south, and 21 feet transversely. A passage 12 feet wide leads from this past a large building to the inner ward, in which are two other buildings, one to the north 65 x 24 feet, and one to the west 41 x 30 feet. The view above given shows the south and east faces of these buildings respectively. South of the whole pile is a space of about six acres which was all paved over up to recent times, and which is still enclosed by a wall all round, strengthened with half-round towers, crenellated for hand-guns. The whole structure is probably of date about the first half of the seventeenth century ; but there is in the interior an ancient wall, 51 feet thick, which appears to be a remnant of an earlier castle."

3. LINKS TO GREAT PHOTOS

1. Kilshannig Cemetery, Clonmeen, Ireland "Burial place of the O'Callghans"

Stephen Callahan has taken some wonderful photos of the 370 year old cemetery at Clonmeen, the "Burial Place of the O'Callaghans" and at the Dromaneen Fortified House, which he has kindly posted on the Callahan Genealogy and History Facebook page.

Info about the Clonmeen ancient parish:

Two miles south east of Kanturk on both banks of the River Blackwater. There was a church and rectory there in the last century (per the Lewis Typographical Survey and Mallow Union of Parishes website: Ancient Parishes)

2. Dromaneen Fortified House as it looks today

A wonderful close up photo of the ruins of Dromaneen Fortified House was recently taken by Australian, Robert Rath on March 2, 2016 and was posted to his very interesting blog "Roberts Ramblings." Click on this link to view his amazing photograph and to read the interesting story about all of the work he went through to obtain it.

ADDITIONAL READING AND DOCUMENTS:

Historical and Topographical Notes: Clonmeen Parish. Click on the link for a copy (.PDF file).

Historical and Topographical Notes: Dromaneen Castle. Click on the link for a copy (.PDF file).