Ireland · Restored
O'Dea Castle
Caisleán Uí Dheá
O'Dea Castle (Dysert O'Dea Castle) is a late 15th-century Irish tower house that served as the O'Dea clan stronghold near Dysert, County Clare. Built on a small limestone outcrop beside the remains of Dysert O'Dea Monastery, it was damaged in the 17th century and later restored in the 20th century and now functions as an archaeological centre and visitor site.
Its prime
1490
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1490
What O'Dea Castle looked like in its prime.
A tall, rectangular tower house of roughly 50 feet (15 m) in height rising directly from a compact limestone outcrop (approximately 20 by 40 ft). Vertical, coursed grey limestone walls with narrow slit windows punctuate the façades; an arched stone entrance sits at ground level. The roofline is finished with a crenellated parapet. The tower stands adjacent to low stone monastery buildings and is set in rolling pastureland and fields of County Clare.
Its story
The story of O'Dea Castle.
The Battle of Dysert O'Dea and Diarmaid O'Dea's Tower
The Battle of Dysert O'Dea was fought on this ground on 10 May 1318, and drove the Anglo-Normans from the region for more than 200 years. The tower came later: it was built between 1470 and 1490 by Diarmaid O'Dea, Lord of Cineal Fearmaic, as the stronghold of the O'Dea clan. A fortified tower house rather than a castle in the full sense, it stands some 50 feet high on a limestone outcrop measuring 20 by 40 feet, beside Dysert O'Dea Monastery and 5 kilometres from Corofin in County Clare.
Ormond, the Neylons and the Nine Years' War, 1570–1603
The Earl of Ormond took the castle from the O'Dea clan by force in 1570, but by 1584 they had it back, with Domhnall Maol O'Dea listed as owner. Domhnall supported the northern chiefs in the Nine Years' War of 1594–1603, and Dysert Castle fell to Daniel Neylon, the Protestant Bishop of Kildare, who in 1594 bequeathed it to his son John. It soon returned to the O'Deas.
Ballyalla, the Cromwellian Garrison and the Jacobite Loss
Conor Cron O'Dea supported the Confederates and took part in the successful siege of Ballyalla Castle in 1642. After Limerick fell to the Cromwellian forces in 1651, they kept a small garrison at Dysert O'Dea; when the soldiers left they demolished the battlements, the upper floors and the staircase.
The Neylon family returned, and in the reign of Charles II Conor Cron O'Dea regained the castle. His sons Michael and James backed the cause of James II and lost it once more. The lands passed to the Synge family, and the tower gradually fell into ruin.
The Wisconsin Purchase and the Archaeology Centre
In 1970 John O'Day, of Wisconsin Rapids in the United States, bought the tower and had it restored. It was leased to the Dysert Development Association, which, with support from the Irish Tourist Board, opened it in 1986 as the Dysert O'Dea Castle Archaeology Centre, showing local artefacts from the Stone Age to 1922. It is now run as Dysert O'Dea Castle and Archaeological Trails, open to visitors from May to August, with trails taking in the sites around the tower including the remains of the monastery.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1490.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at O'Dea Castle, including 1 interior: tower internal staircase. 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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Clans who held O'Dea Castle.
The families that held O'Dea Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
O'Dea
Stronghold of the O'Dea clan, built 1470–90 by Diarmaid O'Dea, Lord of Cineal Fearmaic; Conor Cron O'Dea regained it in the reign of Charles II.
Neylon
Held by the Neylon family until Conor Cron O'Dea regained the castle in the reign of Charles II.
Synge
The lands passed to the Synge family as the castle gradually fell into ruin.
