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Nenagh

Location
(52°51′43″N, 8°11′37″W)
Nenagh
R 87 79
pre-1974 traditional (Republic of Ireland) Tipperary
now Tipperary
  • Tessa Garton

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Feature Sets
Description

A circular keep of five storeys, originally one of three towers in the curtain wall of a 13thc. Norman castle. The walls are up to twenty feet thick, with staircases and passages. On the south side of the second floor is an arch with Romanesque decoration on the inside.

History

The castle was begun by Theobald Walter c.1200 and completed in the first 20 years of the 13thc. It was burned in 1548. The top part of the tower was added in the 19thc.

Features

Interior Features

Interior Decoration

Miscellaneous
Comments/Opinions

The style of the decoration conforms with a date c.1200-1220. Nenagh contains the only surviving Romanesque decoration definitely made for a secular context.

Bibliography

D. F. Gleeson and H. G. Leask, The Castle and Manor of Nenagh, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 66, 1936, 247-69.

H. G. Leask, Irish Castles: 1180-1310, Archaeological Journal, 93, 1936, 163-6.

H. G. Leask, Irish Castles and Castellated Houses, Dundalk, 1941, 43.

T. McNeill, Castles in Ireland, London, 1997, 28-31.