Inchiquin

6 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Inchiquin, from 2,031 m² (0.2 ha, 0.5 acres) to 638,761 m² (63.88 ha, 157.84 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 23 neighbouring parcels touch it.

Download the townland: DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings; GeoJSON or KML.

No zone of a development plan covers Inchiquin in the national zoning. Outside zoned towns and villages, the county development plan's rural policies apply to each application.

Source: Tailte Éireann and the Department of Housing (MyPlan), national zoning, CC BY 4.0.

• 15 Feb 2018Conditional

  for the construction of a dwellinghouse, proprietary treatment system and new entrance including ancillary site works

  Permission, 1 home · Clare County Council, 18106

Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

• Special Area of Conservation: East Burren Complex SAC 001926
• Special Protection Area: Corofin Wetlands SPA 004220
• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: East Burren Complex 001926

Recorded monuments

• CL017-057001 Castle - tower house
  Description

  Situated in the NW corner of a bawn (CL017-057003-) and immediately to the N of a 16th/17th-century house (CL017-057002-), on a rocky bluff jutting S into Inchiquin Lough. Drawn as an L-shaped structure and labelled ‘Inchiquin Castle (in Ruins)’ on the OS 25-inch plan (1897) and Cassini edition (1920) of the OS 6-inch map. According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997), this tower house was built in 1459 by Teige an Chomhaid Ó Briain, King of Thomond and became the home of the barons of Inchiquin, an important branch of the O’Brien family. The castle was briefly besieged by Conor O’Brien in 1559, during in-fighting within the O’Brien clan (ibid.). In 1599 the castle was attacked and pillaged by Maguire, one of Red Hugh O’Donnell’s soldiers (ibid.). Writing in c. 1600, the satirical poet Aenghus O’Daly lambasted Inchiquin Castle for the very poor hospitality he received there (ibid.). In 1646 a Cromwellian garrison was stationed in the castle but in 1666 Murrough na dToitean Ó Briain, 1st Earl of Inchiquin, was granted the castle, manor and lands by the restored English king, Charles II (ibid.). In about 1700 the castle was the residence of Colonel John O’Brien, who later moved to Killone, near Ennis and died without children in 1709. At some point after he moved away, one Thomas MacGorman of Cahermurphy in west Clare moved to Inchiquin Castle (MacGorman’s second wife, Joan, was related to John O’Brien). While two subsequent generations of MacGormans lived at Inchiquin, the castle remained in O’Brien ownership. In 1702 Sir Donough of Leamaneh and Dromoland conferred the manor of Inchiquin on his second son Henry (ibid.). By 1753 the castle was in the hands of William O’Brien, 4th Earl of Inchiquin. It is unknown when Inchiquin Castle fell into disuse but the tower house was described as ‘nearly levelled’ in an undated document quoted in the OS Letters of 1839 (Comber 1997, 16). Westropp (1899-1901, 359) recounted a tale of the destruction of the ruined tower house by ‘mischievous pleasure seekers’ and Macnamara (1901, 343) dated its destruction to c. 1850.   The main upstanding part of otherwise rubble-filled tower house is its NE corner (H c. 11m), comprising ivy-covered sections of its E (L 4.95m) and N (L 5m; Wth 2m) walls with slight base-batters, and traces of the W wall’s outer face within the rubble. The surviving portion of the E wall (L 4.95m) may retain one side of the tower house’s main entrance doorway at its S end, suggested by a rebate (D 0.26m) on the outer wall-face. Macnamara (1901, 343) described the doorway as ‘gothic’ and Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997) noted a ‘large door-arch stone’ within the rubble nearby. The NE angle contains five or six intact steps of a circular stairwell (ibid.), with a rectangular light (Wth 0.08m; H 1.05m) on the ground floor. On the inner face of the N wall is a single corbel, just above the rubble which fills the interior. Just above the corbel the wall-face is recessed, with a straight edge marking a 1st-floor doorway accessed from the stairs and supported on the recess and corbel.  This suggests that there was no vault in the ground-floor ceiling of the tower house, which appears to have had at least three floors. The tower house is built on a rock outcrop plinth immediately to the N of which the rock appears to have been quarried away, perhaps to provide material for the castle and also adding to its defensible position by creating a 3m-high quarry-face on this side. Outside the E wall of the tower house the plinth edge (H c. 2m) is also clearly visible, turning S and merging into the general ground level of the bawn (CL017-057003-). There is a 16th/17th-century house (CL017-057002-) immediately to the S of the tower house, also within the bawn. The tower house was likely in ruins when this later house was built because its N wall would have overlain the presumed line of the S wall of the tower house.   Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott   Date of upload: 13-10-2025

• CL017-057002 House - 16th/17th century
  Description

  Situated in the W side of a bawn (CL017-057003-) and immediately to the S of a tower house (CL017-057001-), on a rocky bluff jutting S into Inchiquin Lough. Drawn as a long rectangular structure within a complex labelled ‘Inchiquin Castle (in Ruins)’ on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map. According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997), ‘Inchiquin Castle’ was built in 1459 by Teige an Chomhaid Ó Briain, King of Thomond and became the home of the barons of Inchiquin, an important branch of the O’Brien family.   This 16th/17th-century house (int. L c. 30m NNE-SSW is defined by crude walls (T 1.22m) of limestone rubble interspersed with dressed limestone blocks (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1983, 42). The seven-bay structure has a central entrance doorway flanked by three large rectangular windows on either side in the E wall. There is a large window on the S wall with surviving fragments of square hood moulding and jambs (ibid.). Fragments of mullion and transom lie on the bare limestone bedrock outside this window (ibid.). There are four fireplaces on the W wall, the N two projecting (c. 0.2m) on the outer face of the wall. Between these two N fireplaces is a small light and a possible small doorway, although Ua Cróinín and Breen (op. cit.) interpreted this as a window. Joist-holes for supporting the first floor of the house are visible along the length of the E and W inner wall-faces (ibid.). At the level of this first floor are remains of at least six windows in the E wall, although none appear to be over the central bay of the doorway. These windows must have been dormers (i.e., accommodated in attic gables or hips facing E) because the pitch of the S gable rises from the same level as these windowsills. The flues of the two southern fireplaces in the W wall are supported by external corbels from this level. The chimney stack of the second chimney from the N rises above this level; there are no decorative flues here, but barge stones may indicate at least one hipped extension in the centre of the house (ibid.). There may have been four more fireplaces on the first floor (Macnamara 1901, 343; Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997) also noted evidence that the house was rendered internally and externally, and they posited that many holes in the inner wall-faces may have held wooden tenons for mural panelling. The doorway in the W wall of the house leads to a platform and a rough path to the S, where it reaches the lakeshore. This area is strewn with masonry debris, but it is possible that the doorway provided access to a bay just W of the house, and the shelf of land at the S.   Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott   Date of upload: 13-10-2025

• CL017-057003 Bawn
  Description

  Situated on a rocky bluff jutting S into Inchiquin Lough. Drawn on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map, as part of the complex labelled ‘Inchiquin Castle (in Ruins)’. According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997), ‘Inchiquin Castle’ was built in 1459 by Teige an Chomhaid Ó Briain, King of Thomond and became the home of the barons of Inchiquin, an important branch of the O’Brien family.   This subrectangular bawn (c. 41m NNE-SSW; max. 21m WNW-ESE) is defined from S-W-N by a cliff (H 3-4m at W) which - at least on the N side of the tower house (CL017-057001-) - was created by quarrying (see Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). From ENE-S, the bawn is defined by a wall (Wth 0.8-1.2m; H 1.2-4m) running along the top of the cliff (H c. 4m) which drops to the lake from ENE-SSE and to a lake-level shelf (c. 10m E-W; 6m N-S) from SSE-S. The S side of the bawn wall (L 7m; H 4m) appears to be intact and its W end terminates at the SE corner of the 16th/17th-century house (CL017057002-) which occupies the bawn’s W interior. A narrow gap (Wth c. 1m) between the bawn wall and house leads to a ledge which extends W along the S gable of the house. At the E end of the wall’s S side is a cupboard and a fragment of square hood moulding in the inner wall-face. The SE and E side of the bawn wall is lower (H 1.2m). The bawn’s NE corner is not visible, but is probably marked by a sharp turn W of the cliff-edge, in line with the N plinth of the tower house (CL017-057001-) in the NW corner of the bawn. The bawn’s gateway was presumably located between the plinth and cliff, leading to a barely traceable roadway that runs N along the lakeshore, until c. 60m to the N it reaches a narrow pass (Wth 3.5m) between the shore and a rock-face (H c. 3m). As noted, the W interior of the bawn is occupied by a 16th/17th-century house (CL017-057002-). In the NW corner of the bawn are the ruins of an older tower house (CL017-057001-). The rest of the bawn’s generally E-sloping interior is covered in grass and some trees.   Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott   Date of upload: 13-10-2025

• CL017-058 Enclosure
  Description

  On level pasture at the top of a S-facing slope overlooking Inchiquin Lough. Hachured on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map. Upon inspection in 1998, it appeared that relatively recent clearance works had impacted on the monument and resulted in its W limits being truncated. This very poorly preserved subcircular enclosure (int. dims. 30.8m N-S; 28.5m E-W) has its perimeter from NW-N-NE obscured by a bank of spoil (Wth c. 5m; H 1.5m). From NE-E-SE the perimeter was indicated by bushes and a sparse band of stones (Wth c. 2m), while from SE-S, the enclosure was defined by a counterscarp (H 0.3-0.5m) rising from the interior. Subsequent satellite imagery (MapGenie Imagery 2005-2012; MapGenie DigitalGlobe Imagery 2011-2013) suggests these meagre remains and a field wall at the enclosure’s W edge were later removed. In more recent satellite imagery (MapGenie Imagery 2013-2018), the enclosure’s edge from NNW-N-E is faintly discernible as a low grass-covered scarp. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 20 July 2023

• CL017-059001 Crannog
  Description

  At the S shore of Inchiquin Island in Inchiquin Lough. Described by Macnamara (1901a, 210) as ‘a semi-circular row of stakes, 3 or 4 inches in diameter’, seen at low water defining the edge of a semicircular extension of the island. He stated that the stakes ‘were planted in the marly bottom, both ends of the row touching the shore, and the enclosed space was filled with stones and rubbish’ and by then adding another semicircular extension to this artificial platform, ‘the island was very much extended to the south’ (ibid.). He also noted that the shores of the island ‘are littered with stones, many of which may have been squared by the hammer’, and that 50 or 60 years before his time of writing, there was ‘such a large collection of bones of deer and other animals—in fact a subaqueous kitchen-midden—on the eastern side [of the island] near the boat-slip, that a sort of regular trade existed to fish up and sell them.’ (ibid.) On a plan Macnamara published (1901b, 349) he recorded oval-shaped and linear rows of stakes on the shoreline and in shallow water as well as some ‘squared piles’. There is a tower house (CL017-059002-) also on Inchiquin Island.   Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott    Date of upload: 13-10-2025

• CL017-059002 Castle - tower house
  Description

  In woods at the W side of Inchiquin Island in Inchiquin Lough. Drawn as a rectangular structure on the first edition (1842) of the OS 6-inch map and similarly drawn and labelled ‘King Torlough’s Castle (in Ruins)’ on the OS 25-inch plan (1897) and Cassini edition (1920) of the OS 6-inch map. According to Ua Cróinín and Breen (2009, 6) the castle was built in c. 1284 by Turlough Mór Ó Briain, King of Thomond, and therefore one of the earliest stone castles constructed by an Irish lord in Co. Clare. After Turlough Mór’s death in 1306, Mahon Ó Briain, son of Donall Connachtach, made the castle his headquarters. The annals record that after Murtough Ó Briain’s victory at the battle of Dysert O’Dea in 1318—leaving him undisputed King of Thomond—he resided in the castle. However, it is unknown for how long he stayed there, and there are no subsequent references to the castle which seems have been abandoned quite soon afterwards. (ibid.) In the early 1800s, a cottage was built almost directly on the ruined castle’s foundations.   In 1895, the antiquary George Macnamara conducted an excavation at the castle (Macnamara 1901, 224-6), revealing the ruined base of a rectangular tower house (10.21m N-S; 7.47m E-W) defined by walls (max. H 1.5m at S) of mixed coarse and high-quality masonry, incorporating many cut and hammered stones which were also found scattered about nearby. Macnamara (1901, 225) noted the unusually wide batter around the exterior base of the walls, which he suggested may have been designed to provide improved protection against waves if the lake level was then higher. When first exposed, the walls were found coated with a ‘thick layer of coarse mortar or rough-cast, washed with lime’ (Macnamara, 225-6). The castle remains were later described by Ua Cróinín and Breen (2009, 5) as the base of a rectangular tower house (9m E-W; 6.1m N-S) defined by walls (H c. 2m) of ‘crudely shaped’ masonry ‘with finely carved limestone dressings, set in a lime mortar, in erratic courses.’ Ua Cróinín and Breen did not include the base-batter in their measurements; in their view it was built ‘as an addition to the castle wall, rather than part of it’ (ibid.).    Based on the location of fallen masonry around the walls, Macnamara (1901, 225) suggested that the tower house had a doorway with ‘the usual gothic-pointed head, and jambs excellently cut and ornamented with a checkered pattern’. Because he could not find any remains of the castle’s entrance, he suggested that this was ‘at a considerable height from ground-level, as in the round bell-towers, and both it and the upper rooms were reached by ladders.’ (ibid.) However, Ua Cróinín and Breen (2009, 5) reported finding a stair-step on the ground near the castle. Also, and apparently based on a reconstruction of fallen masonry, Macnamara (1901, 225) concluded that the castle had a two-light window (Wth 0.61m) in its S wall, with a socket-hole at each side of its mullion to secure a double-shutter and another two-light window (Wth c. 0.43m) with externally chamfered mullion in the N or W wall. He noted that the head of the latter window had been incorporated in the N gable of the 19th-century cottage partly overlying the castle ruins. Ua Cróinín and Breen (2009, 5) also found ‘part of a window base with a shutter hole’. Macnamara identified parts of three or four corner-slits, and near the NW angle a semicircular head made from a single block, belonging to a 0.15m-wide window. Another damaged stone bore a crude high-relief carving of a man’s profile with ‘an ornament somewhat in the shape of a curving horn issuing from his mouth’ (ibid.); Macnamara thought that this was probably part of a window-head. He noted that many of the buried stones were ‘not in the least weathered’, leading him to conclude that the castle was destroyed not long after it was made. He proposed that the castle’s design may have been identical to the coeval O’Brien castle at Clonroad (CL033-085001-). He also suggested that the castle may possibly have been part of a larger building and the island encircled by a wall, there being masses of stones of all sizes around the shoreline. Ua Cróinín and Breen (2009, 5) drew a plan showing the remains of a mostly collapsed substantial subcircular wall encompassing most of the island, with an upstanding section at the SE. Within the area enclosed by this wall they identified a collapsed wall running E from the castle’s NE corner, another running S from just outside its SE corner, and an upstanding staggered wall just to the N of the castle. Macnamara (1901, 209-10) also suggested that the O’Quin family who ruled the area before the O’Briens would have had some form of residence on the island, and he tentatively proposed that a crannog (CL017-059001-) at the S end of Inchiquin Island may have been built by the O’Quins.   Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott    Date of upload: 13-10-2025

• CL017-211 Souterrain
  Description

  The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) is in the process of providing information on all monuments on The Historic Environment Viewer (HEV). Currently the information for this record has not been uploaded. To access available information for research purposes please make an appointment in advance with the Archive Unit (open Fridays 10.00 am – 5.00 pm), Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, The Custom House, Dublin 1 D01W6XO or email NMarchive@housing.gov.ie.

Architectural heritage

No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands in the townland of Inchiquin.

Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Buildings: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).

Radon

About 1 in 5 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

Susceptibility low, low (inferred), on the 1:50,000 map; parts are water.

Terrain model

No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of the townland of Inchiquin.

Flooding

The flood maps of the Office of Public Works: floodinfo.ie.

Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency; Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland; both CC BY 4.0. LiDAR: contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland & the Office of Public Works) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

No address of the register names Inchiquin with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Clare.

Name

Inchiquin · Inse Uí Chuinn

Area

1,193,443 m² (119.34 ha, 294.91 acres)

Civil parish

Killinaboy, and its townlands

Barony

Inchiquin

Electoral division

Corrofin, the unit of the census

Census 2022

Corrofin electoral division: 1,362 people in 535 households; 72% of households own their home; 41% of homes were built since 2001; 10% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 4% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Anneville, Baunkyle, Clifden, Coad, Commons South, Nooan

Placenames

Inchiquin on logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland

Townlands, civil parishes, baronies and electoral divisions, National Statutory Boundaries, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. Census 2022, Small Area Population Statistics by electoral division, Central Statistics Office, CC BY 4.0. A townland is the smallest land division of Ireland, and the unit of a rural address; old registers such as the 1901 and 1911 censuses file it under its civil parish and barony.