Ireland · Ruin
Loughmoe Castle
Caisleán Luach Magh
Loughmoe Castle is a medieval tower-house near Loughmore village in County Tipperary, long the ancestral seat of the Purcell family. The surviving core is a four-storey 13th‑century tower-house with lower 17th‑century domestic additions; today it stands as a ruin on flat lowland close to the River Suir.
Its prime
1700
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1700
What Loughmoe Castle looked like in its prime.
A tall rectangular four-storey medieval tower-house sits as the central mass, with lower, later 17th‑century ranges attached to one side; the silhouette is dominated by the vertical tower rising above the adjoining low roofs. Walls are rough masonry punctured by narrow vertical slit windows on the upper levels and larger rectangular openings in the later wing. The group stands on flat agricultural ground beside a small village with the River Suir visible across the fields in the distance.
Its story
The story of Loughmoe Castle.
Sir Hugh Purcell's Dowry of 1204 and the Thirteenth-Century Tower
Loughmoe Castle — Caisláin Luach Magh, and also spelt Loughmore — sits just outside Loughmore village in County Tipperary, between Thurles and Templemore. The land it was built on was granted to Sir Hugh Purcell in 1204 as a dowry from Theobald FitzWalter, the father of Beatrix FitzWalter, and the castle became the ancestral home of the Purcell family.
A mill was put up not far from the castle at the same time it was built. The oldest part is a four-storey tower-house of the thirteenth century.
Lord and Baron: The Purcell Title to 1722
Who first held the barony is told two ways. One account makes Sir Hugh Purcell himself the first Baron of Loughmoe, granted the title by James Butler, first Earl of Ormonde and a descendant of Theobald FitzWalter; the succession of the title instead places Sir Hugh as Lord of Loughmoe and gives the first barony to Richard Purcell in 1328.
After Richard the succession runs through fourteen more Purcells of Loughmoe, among them Thomas, born in 1538 and dead on 3 August 1607; Theobald, born 1595 and dead in 1644; and James, born 1609, who died on 13 September 1652, the same month in which Nicholas Purcell of Loughmoe was born. Nicholas was the last Baron: he died on 4 March 1722, and the Barony of Loughmoe ended with him.
Seventeenth-Century Additions, Departure About 1760, and the Ruin Today
The Purcells enlarged the castle with additions in the seventeenth century, and the family lived at Loughmoe until around 1760, some four decades after the title had lapsed with Nicholas.
The castle is a ruin. It stands on flat ground between the River Suir and the Cork to Dublin rail line, a visible feature for commuters.
The Boar and Sow of Loughmoe
A local folktale, attached to the castle for many years, explains how the Purcells came by it in the first place. In the telling, Loughmoe was covered in dense forest and ruled by a king who lived in the castle, and a wild boar and sow were terrorising the parish. The king promised that whoever killed the pair could marry his only daughter and take the castle and the surrounding land.
Many men tried and failed, until a young man named Purcell asked to take on the challenge. He searched Loughmoe and beyond, found the sow first, and killed her with a bow and arrow; her squeals brought the boar tearing through the forest to the same spot. Purcell shot the charging boar in the jaw, and it ran off and later died. The king kept his word and gave Purcell the castle, the land of Loughmoe, and his daughter's hand.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1700.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Loughmoe Castle, including 1 interior: upper chamber of the tower-house. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Recreate Loughmoe Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Loughmoe Castle.
The families that held Loughmoe Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Purcell
Ancestral seat of the Purcells, Barons of Loughmoe, from 1204 until c.1760.
