352 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



was taken and restored to its rightful owners by the Earl of Thomond 

 in 1599, when, or at an earlier period, it may have received injuries 

 which necessitated extensive repairs. ^ 



The architecture of the towers corroborates many of the previous 

 statements. The rude and plain castles of Dangan and itossroe, and 

 the late insertions in I^ewtown (implying need for considerable 

 repairs, about 1530) equally tell of early foundations. 



A group which dates from about 1410 or 1420, containing Lecarrow, 

 Lismehane, Mountallon, Doon, and Trough has nearly perished, pro- 

 bably from want of experience in the builders ; the masonry of the 

 remaining, though prostrate, angle of Lismehane being very coarse. 

 Eosslara is different in plan, though not in features, from other early 

 towers. 



The large group, from about 1450 to 1500, and including such 

 fine specimens as Knappogue, Ballyhenon, E,alahine, Mountcashel, 

 Dromline, Moghane, and Danganbrack, enables us to date others of 

 equal merit, such as Ballygriffy, the side tower of Leraeneagh, Derry- 

 owen, Dysert O'Dea, and the slightly later, but fine and perfect, 

 towers of Moyree and Bally griify, near Corofin. Indeed, that period 

 was the " golden age " of castle-building in Thomond, 



The towers of South-western Clare are in nearly all cases identical 

 in design, but so rudely built, and, as a rule, so devoid of ornament 

 that we can only conjecture their dates. The features of Tromra 

 possibly date about 1490, and those of Carrigaholt, from the reign of 

 Elizabeth. However, the plainest towers are very deceptive as to 

 their age ; and that we can easily fall into error is shown by the 

 stump of the castle on Scattery Island, which is late Elizabethan, 

 though apparently very old. 



The Design.^ 



Omitting for the present the circular towers, we find a noteworthy 

 similarity of design in the vast majority of the existing "castles" 



1 There are illustrations of Bunratty and Dysert O'Dea Castles in the Journal 

 of the Eoyal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1890, p. 292 ; of Lemeneagh, in 

 Mr. James Frost's " History and Topography of the county of Clare," p. 130 ; and 

 of the Cratloes, Danganbrack, and Kalahine, in "The Story of an Irish Sept," 

 pp. 138, 139. 



- In the longitudinal sections here given I may note that the hatching shows 

 the walls and vaults actually cut hy the line of section. The perpendicular shading 

 marks the curve of vaults and arches. The lower parts of Rosslara and Denyowen 

 are deeply buried in fallen debris. 



