Castles ./ Tower-houses in Tipperary

Heat-map of density of Castles in Tipperary

What County has the most Tower-Houses in the Rep. of Ireland?

Surprisingly Tipperary has the most Tower-Houses with 161 with the next highest being Cork with 133.

One possible explanation is geography and that the midlands were known as March-lands. Armies naturally marched through them on the way to battle. To try and counter-act this the local leaders needed to be able to with-stand a short siege and hope that the army would pass through.

There was also a high concentration of Anglo-Norman settlers in South Tipperary that needed to defend against possible aggressors in the more Gaelicized North of the County.

The county is also the biggest inland county so it may be that an Anglo-Norman south combined with that size might just mean they had more tower-houses but that by density they don't necessarily have the most.

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The Tipperary Antiquarian

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