Castle Life: Why pay nearly half a million euro for a shoebox in Dublin, when you could be living in Ballinderry Castle, Ballinderry North, Tuam, County Galway for the same money?
Listen. We are working remotely now (or some of us are). So why not be king or queen of all that you survey while you slave over a hot laptop?
Check this out. Ballinderry Castle in Tuam, County Galway, is a unique and dramatic historic Irish Castle. Not only that, it is located on approx. 3.7 acres. Yes, you can have cows and grow chips too!
Okay it needs a bit of work. But don’t we all?
For years, like I mean years, we have all been obsessed with Premier Properties. They sell the properties that movie stars quietly buy as their Irish bolthole. You can lose yourself in their pages for days.
Aerial Photos Courtesy of Keith Crisham, Sky Pix Media, Tuam.
Currently, this quirky real estate are selling Ballinderry Castle, and have compiled a little history on it. Here it is.
Ballinderry Castle, a Brief History
This castle was built by the Norman family, the de Burgos between 1450 and 1500. Ballinderry Castle was initially a moated Castle. It was built on the shores of a lake that has long since disappeared. Previously The Castle consisted of a keep with an inner ward and an outer ward that had a garden.
Ballinderry Castle was taken by the O’Donnell Family 1592. But within a few months in the same year, it was taken again by Lord Grey for the Crown.
The castle later was taken over by Cromwellian troops. In 1659 Ballinderry was given to the Nolan family who had lost their 20,000 acres in Galway and in exchange received Ballinderry Castle and adjoining lands. In the 19th Century, they erected a manor house and left the castle.
Captain Nolan was a strong sympathizer of the nationalist cause and invited Charles Stewart Parnell to stay in the castle.
The last military use of Ballinderry was as a British outpost during the troubles. The Castle has been in the same ownership for the last 30 years and has undergone significant renovations.
Castle Life: Architecture
The castle was typical Irish architecture made of limestone with a mortar of lime, cattle hair and blood. Yes, you read that right.
At least two corner turrets at opposite angles strengthened the bawn of the outer ward that included several buildings. Access was through a gatehouse from the medieval road.
In many places, the wickerwork, more than 500 years old, remains in place. The roof was covered with slates.
Slate and cobble were on the ground floor. The walls were six-foot thick supporting the 60-foot-high building. The ground floor was used for storage. The first floor above it was the guards’ quarters.
The second floor was the kitchen that retains its massive fireplace.
The third floor was a suite of two rooms, the larger having a fireplace. The fourth floor was the largest room, lighted by large windows. It also had a fireplace. This room was the living quarters of the master who had banquets there. The medieval toilets were at two different levels and retain the French name garderobe.
Defense
Defense was carried out from the battlements at the top, from the machicolation galleries at mid-height, and from numerous loopholes.(What the hell is a machi…?? In medieval fortifications, machicolations are openings in the upper sections of castles through which missiles, boiling oil and other objects could be thrown down onto attackers.)
On the ground floor all doors interlock themselves. The main door was strengthened on the outside by a yett and on the inside by a portcullis. (You are googling yett, aren’t you? It’s a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles).
If an attacker got into the lobby he was attacked from a murder hole in the ceiling and confronted by fire from a loophole facing inside. He would then have to climb the spiral staircase, which is clockwise giving an advantage to the defender manning the sword with his right hand.
Communication between the floors was insured through chimney flues, which connect to each other for that purpose.
Lastly, the castle features an unusually decorative and slightly damaged Sheela-na-gig over the main entrance. The Sheela-na-gig has two long plaits or braids in her hair, each twisted into a different pattern, with a rose, a bird, a very Irish marigold and two kinds of triskele surrounding her.
If you want to buy it, email [email protected]
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