Ballymackey Castle and the last Chief of the O'Meara Clan

 

Ballymackey Castle in North Tipp.

It is probably best known as the residence of the last Chief of the O'Meara Clan - Morgan O'Meara.
"Morgan O'Meara, the last of the O'Mearas who exercised chieftancy over his sept, was heir to a patrimony which extended from Bennett's Bridge near Nenagh to beyond Toomevara itself, the burial place of the O'Meara's took its name from his family of which, heir male to the name, though not to the property, existed in the person of two nephews less than a century ago.
The O'Meara estates embraced a large portion of Upper Ormond. The residence of the O'Meara was at Ballymackey Castle, and there the old chieftain lived in princely style until he had gambled away his princely estates to a "friend" of his named Kilpatrick, from whom they were afterwards purchased by the Tolers, ancestors of Lord Norbury.
There was high festival and true Irish hospitality always kept up at Ballymackey Castle - the dwelling-house was attached to the old castle during the life of the O'Meara. He used to lay in a store of 30 pipes of claret at a time, and made one prolonged sitting of it while the liquor lasted. He was a first-rate sportsman, but he generally let others enjoy, while he drank, gambled or spent his time in similar enjoyments.
He was in politics a high Tory, and he saved the lawyers a great deal of trouble and his tenants a great deal of expense and annoyance by exercising a summary jurisdiction in cases brought before him in his magisterial capacity, his penalties being all imposed in a truly chieftain-like manner by thrashing the guilty parties with his stick. This stick is always carried in consequence of a lameness arising from having fallen out of a lofty vehicle which he was driving tandem-fashion accompanied by a companion.
O'Meara was perpetual Mayor of Cashel, the duties of which were performed by a deputy. He was also captain in the Nenagh Yeomanry, and his tall figure and attenuated features were remembered by old inhabitants. He always kept a piper to enliven his company, and a very clever artist he was. He was stone-blind and thought so highly of himself that he would drink nothing but claret. The piper's name was Forrester.
The usual change came slowly but surely - almost all the estates were gambled away, and O'Meara was enabled to preserve only a small annuity to support himself in his old age. He lived up to the year 1829, and his remains were interred in Ballymackey. His town house was Barrack Street, the present Garda barracks.
Above Morgan O'Meara was son of another Morgan O'Meara and Eliza Pennefather, who married in 1731. He had a brother, General Daniel O'Meara, commander of the forces in Jamaica, who married in 1798 Mary, daughter of Sir Joseph Peacocke of Barntick near Ennis. The General lived in Thomas Street, Limerick, and had two sons who were well-known and very popular in that city in the middle of the last century. He had a daughter who married Rev. Richard Studdert of Quin, Co. Clare, in 1818.
N.B. Balllymackey Castle mentioned above, originally an O'Kennedy castle, was once the residence of Sir Robert Cole. he acquired the Ballymackey estate from the Ffrank family of Frankfurt, Roscrea by purchase. He was M.P. for Enniskillen in 1661 and was knighted in 1671.
N.B - John Peacocke O'Meara of Castleconnel and Wm. H O'Meara, Surgeon. "Urgent", living in 1887."
Pg 51 & 52 from Sheehans Nenagh and its Neighbourhood: https://askaboutireland.ie/.../sheehan-nenagh-and-its-ne/

The castle looks to be much larger than a regular tower-house in North Tipp (even taking into account a possible residence that was added to it). It is located within a piggery. However it was possible to photograph it recently from the road.
I had searched for the grave of Morgan O'Meara in Ballymackey graveyard before but not been able to find it. If anyone knows its location that would be of interest. The whole story of Morgan O'Meara is fascinating (if true), he sounds like a really interesting character. Sometimes there is a certain myth involved in falls from grace such as this.

Round Towers of Ireland: Some common questions about them and an attempt at answering them

 

We don't know what the function of a round tower was? 

Round towers have been recorded in the various Annals as Cloigteach which translates as a Bell tower.

We don't know how old round towers are? 

This was dealt with as far back as 1845 by George Petrie in which he convincingly dated them to the medieval period. His paper is available to download here. 

https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalar00petr

Architectural evidence has always pointed to them being of medieval date, mainly by association with the neighbouring buildings but also similar architectural features. See O'Keeffe's Ireland's Round Towers 64-91.

Pg 71 "Why do we date these arched doorways - and the towers in which they feature - to this particular period? It is partly on negative grounds: we expect post-1130 doorways to be more elaborate. It is also partly on comparative grounds. The true arch, by which is meant an arch made with voussoirs, seems only to appear in church architecture in the later eleventh and early twelfth centuries. It was used specifically for the chancel arches of a small number of churches, and yet the churches in question continued to possess the older, lintelled, form of doorway. Indeed, the type of round-arched doorway which we find in the Round Towers was used very rarely in churches, so it is tempting to suggest the first true arches in Ireland were those in the towers. If true arches were in use in Round Tower doorways over a long period of time - before, say, 1050 - we might expect to find them being replicated on church doorways: in fact, the opposite happens: rather than churches borrow from Round Towers, the towers seem to borrow from the churches." 

Corlett, 26 "Round-headed doorways and windows first appeared in Irish church architecture towards the end of the eleventh century and flourished during the twelfth century, when the round arch was at the centre of Romanesque architecture and decoration." 

An early excavation by Rev. John Browne on the interior of the Kildare round tower in 1843 found some fragments of mid twelfth century bracteate coins under the floor (Corlett, 26).

This was strengthened by a date of the mortar from the round tower in Clonmacnoise which was shown to be medieval in date. 

Also Rattoo has been radiocarbon dated to the later 11th century (O'Keeffe, 66).

Very recent excavations at Derry and Kilkenny have down that the towers were built over medieval deposits so it pretty conclusively dates them. 

Regarding Kilkenny 

"The exact date at which the tower was constructed is not recorded historically but its round-headed doorway, evidence for diagonal tooling and lintelled windows are suggestive of a date in the 12th century. Recent radiocarbon dates from human skulls in the National Museum of Ireland, from skeletons excavated under the foundations in the 19th century, dates its construction to after AD 990. It could be suggested that it was the formalisation of Kilkenny’s status as cathedral at the 1111 synod of Rathbressail that was the catalyst for the tower’s construction, perhaps by the then king of Ossory Domnall mac Donnchada Mac Gilla Patráic. In 1846 and 1847 James Graves investigated both the internal and external base of the tower and reported that it stood on a stone plinth that rested on ‘a black and yielding mould, from which protruded human bones in an east and west direction’. Inside the tower Graves noted a 2.3m deep dump over a mortared floor pavement that was on the same level as the external base course of the tower. These overlying layers contained disarticulated human bones, bird guano, animal bones and dolomite debris, considered as having derived from the tower’s construction. An intermediate layer showed evidence for burning and it was suggested it may have been associated with historically attested attacks on the church in 1085 and 1114. Graves also reported that five articulated human burials were encountered after the removal of the pavement. Excavations by Kilkenny Archaeology around the base of the tower in 2013 uncovered its offset plinth foundation which had been constructed directly onto the graveyard soil. When compared with a plan of the tower by Graves and Prim its foundations can be seen to have comprised a 1.2m wide circular ring. The excavation was funded by the Select Vestry of St Canice's Cathedral and the radiocarbon dates by the Heritage Council, with the permission of the National Museum of Ireland."

Kilkenny excavation 

This is based on an excavation by Coilin O Drisceoil

Regarding Derry

Derry Round Tower

There are also references to them being constructed in some of the medieval annals. 

See Annals of Four Masters &  Chronicon Scotorum for references to building at Clonmacnoise (AFM1124, CS1124), and at Annadown (AFM1238)

How did you get up into a round tower and why was the door so high up?

It is likely that a wooden staircase was used to get up into round-towers. Possible evidence of one these structures was found during excavations at Inis Cealtra / Holy Island in Co. Clare on Lough Derg. 

 

Round towers were to protect against pillaging Vikings and were used for defence? 

It seems unlikely other than for a very short space of time. They wouldn't offer great protection and if the timber stairs inside went on fire, the people inside would be in big trouble.

Round towers were laid out to the pattern of stars in the sky?

Any map this I have seen doesn't take into account the numerous towers that have been recorded in the annals but are now destroyed. 

​The Irish Round-Tower Star-Map Mystery - ANCIENT MYSTERIES (weebly.com)

The one here just ignores a lot of the standing ones also. 

Do round towers exude energy or are the on ley lines? 

Similar to the above, the proposed ley lines don't seem to take into account the known round towers that have been destroyed over the years. 

Regarding dowsing - I refer people to this - Dowsing - Wikipedia

Were skeletons located when cleaning out the "bottom" of the round towers votive deposits?

Unlikely, many round towers were built in and around existing early Christian sites. Many may have early burials that they may have came across while digging the foundations of the round tower. Maybe this area was just a convenient place to deposit the remains. 

Corlett, Chris. “Interpretation of Round Towers: Public Appeal or Professional Opinion?” Archaeology Ireland, vol. 12, no. 2, 1998, pp. 24–27. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20558757.

Discovery of Bullaun Stone in Timoney near Roscrea

 

Always nice to help record a previously unrecorded monument. This bullaun stone in Timoney townland not far from Roscrea hadn't been recorded in the Sites & Monuments Record before. It is located about 40m from a nearby church and graveyard. It has at least bowls carved into an earthfast rock.

I think this is the 4th bullaun stone I have been involved with adding to the records in Tipperary.

I'm sure lots of people have passed this and just assumed that it was known about but as I always say if anyone has any doubts that something might be recorded drop me a PM and I will try help. Either that or contact the National Monuments Service directly.