Castles of Munster: Springfield, Limerick (1)

R3422 | taken 13 years ago, Friday, 22 June, 2012 | by Mike Searle

This is a well preserved but roofless late C16 Fitzgerald tower house that adjoins a substantial early Georgian 3-storey mansion. The tower's four gables rise directly off the outer walls, and there are two circular bartizans at diagonally opposite corners. A circular flanker almost entirely engulfed in ivy lies close to. It was here in 1579 that John, the Earl of Desmond's brother, inflicted a severe defeat on English forces. Following the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, Sir John Fitzgerald fled to France, and the Fitzmaurices who were cousins of the Fitzgeralds became the new owners. The castle passed by marriage in 1780 to Sir Robert Deane who married the Springfield heiress Ann Fitzmaurice. He was awarded the title Baron Muskerry in 1781 and the title Lord Muskerry has stayed at Springfield Castle to this day. Link

In 2014 the tower house was restored, so the tower is no longer roofless!

R3422 : Castles of Munster: Springfield, Limerick (2)

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