Beakstown Mill by Derek Ryan
I first came across reference to a Ryan interest in a castle at Beakstown on Wikitree
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/O'Mulryan-2
I'm not 100% convinced that John O'Mulryan of Beakstown is the same as the John O'Mulryan that was Abbot of Abbeyowney but we will see.
Hayes's book "Burials in Holycross Abbey" (pg 18) seems to back-up some of the information on Wikitree.
"BURIAL OF OLIVER OGE MORRIS ...... He was married to a daughter of John Mac Conor O'Mulryan who occupied the Purcell Castle in Beakstown, already alluded to. He had a grant of Farney Castle which was built around this period by Ormonde. Colonel Morres also asserts that Sir Oliver Morres, father of Oliver Oge, who died in 1530, was buried in Holycross as well.
His wife's people, the O'Mulryans, who were tenants of the barons of Loughmore in Beakstown, were probably buried in the Abbey."
However we don't know how trustworthy the source of the information is for this.
https://thetipperaryantiquarian.blogspot.com/2025/01/hervey-morris-1798-hero-or-genealogical.html
Hayes also says (pg 20) "John Ryan, Coolkill, who died in 1633. He was a tenant of the Barons of Loughmore in Coolkill"
We can confirm there was a castle at Beakstown from the Civil Survey - "Upon the sd lands is one Castle and an ould Stump of a stone house the Castle out of repaire in Beakstowne, and two Mills on the River Shewer in repair."
One of the mills is likely to be the one photographed above.
Archaeology.ie has a lot more information on the mill and the former castle.
Regarding the mill (pictured above) it says "A doorway at the N end of the NW wall incorporates a
chamfered jamb from an earlier building, possibly Beakstown Castle."
Other evidence of the castle includes
"In 2000 archaeological rescue survey of the spoil heap of
the levelled Beakstown House by Paul Stevens recovered 134 dressed stone
fragments, including 120 late medieval quoins, a late medieval ogee arch
fragment, two corbels, two Tudor chamfered door-jambs and a date stone of 1699
now incorporated into the boundary wall of the property."
I unfortunately haven't seen this date stone.
For more detail on this excavation see the following report.
https://excavations.ie/report/2000/Tipperary/0005780/
It seems to suggest that Beakstown Castle was a tower-house and may have been burned before the stone was eventually reused in the construction of a Georgian style house there.
From 1840s Ordnance Survey Map - Out of Copyright
In relation to John Ryan of Coolkill we find in Richard Fitzpatrick's thesis on the Ryans of Inch that
(pg2) "the remainder of the estate consisted of the manor of
Coolkill. This represented the old mensal lands of the O’Mulryan clan who once
ruled over the territory of Kilnelongurty (later incorporated into the barony
of Kilnamanagh Upper). With some exceptions, these lands were made up of
coarser upland pasture, but they nevertheless conferred a degree of prestige
upon the Ryans of Inch due to their ancestral links to the territory’s historic
chief, Shane Glasse O’Mulryan."
(pg73) "On 18 March 1704, a mere seven days before a clause in the
‘Act to prevent the further growth of Popery’ became active and debarred
Catholics from purchasing land, Purcell sold his lands in Kilnelongurty (the
manor of Coolkill), approximately 2,000 acres, to John Ryan for the princely
sum of £1,620 (ten years purchase). Ryan reportedly paid the money to Purcell
‘in hand before the p[er]fection of these presents’, and it is clear
that Ryan must have made a lot of money over the preceding years outside the
meagre income from his estate.42 The sources of his money were varied,
including the period he spent in London, his legal work upon his return to
Ireland (section 2) and profits from a trading venture he held an interest in
with his brother, Patrick Ryan, which had completed its first known known
voyage by the end of 1703 (section 3)."
So there seems to be a link between the Ryans mentioned in Hayes's book and the later Ryan's of Inch.
What Fitzpatrick seems to say is that the early family of Ryans of Inch filled a vaccum following the purchase of some Ryan lands from Shane Glasse O'Mulryan by the Purcells. The Purcells thus becoming the major power in this area of Kilnelogurty.
John Ryan of Coolkill pays the Purcells a small rent and the two families are allies. Members of the Ryans of Inch become estate agents / lawyers for the Purcells and deal with legal land issues for the Purcells including repossession of Beakstown Castle following (pg 39) "the King’s re-granting of the estate to Ormond in
1661 as guardian to Nicholas Purcell"
Fitzpatrick in his thesis seems to say that the castle was still intact in 1665. It doesn't specifically say when the Ryans were actually tenants in it.
The date stone of 1699 is interesting. Was this maybe referring to the later Georgian House built on site it seems unlikely that they were still building tower-houses at this date?
