Ireland · Restored
Ormonde Castle
Caisleán Urmhumhan
Ormond Castle stands on the east bank of the River Suir at Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary. The site combines a mid-15th-century walled bawn with a later Tudor manor house added in the late 16th century; the complex was restored in the 20th century and is visitable today.
Its prime
1600
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1600
What Ormonde Castle looked like in its prime.
A grey limestone fortified bawn with straight curtain walls flanked by square corner towers to the northeast and northwest, abutting a U-shaped two-storey Tudor manor with a gabled attic and chimneys. The manor facade shows paired mullioned windows on both floors and a projecting oriel over the central porch; a long first-floor gallery runs along the front. Ground level includes arched recesses and a small courtyard enclosed by the bawn and manor buildings, all finished in pale, weathered stone.
Its story
The story of Ormonde Castle.
From the Walls to the Butlers, 1315 to the Mid-15th Century
A castle already stood on the River Suir at Carrick-on-Suir before 1315. In that year the original castle was acquired by the Butler family, after being taken from the Wall family, and James Butler would eventually be granted the title of 1st Earl of Ormond. The oldest part of the castle still standing is a walled bawn of the mid-15th century, cornered on the north-east and north-west by towers.
Thomas Butler's Tudor Manor House, After 1565
Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde, was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth I through Anne Boleyn, and he spent many years at her court. He carried from England a regard for Elizabethan-style architecture, and sometime after 1565 he added a Tudor manor house to the property, the first of its kind in Ireland.
The long gallery on the manor's first floor was once hung with tapestries, and its limestone fireplace bears the date 1565. The plasterwork there shows Queen Elizabeth flanked by Equity and Justice; she is said to have promised her cousin that she would one day visit.
The Arrest of Archbishop O'Hurley, September 1583
The manor house matters to the martyrology of the Elizabethan-era Catholic Church in Ireland, which was then strictly illegal and underground. In September 1583 Archbishop Dermot O'Hurley, who would become one of the most celebrated of the 24 formally recognised Irish Catholic Martyrs, was staying at Ormonde Castle as a guest of Thomas Butler. There he was met by Baron Slane, a former host of his, who explained the imminent danger to himself and his family; in return the Archbishop voluntarily agreed to travel with him and surrender at Dublin Castle.
Despite his own militant Protestantism, the Earl of Ormonde was greatly offended and distressed at the trickery used in the arrest of a guest in his house. Afterwards he did everything he could, in vain, to rescue O'Hurley from the executioners.
The Great Duke of Ormonde and the Handover of 1947
In the 17th century the house was a favourite residence of James Butler, the Great Duke of Ormonde, but the Butlers abandoned it after his death in 1688. It remained a possession of the Butler family until the mid-20th century.
In 1947 the house was given over to Irish State agencies, who restored the historic structures. The most notable achievement of that work was the long gallery, where the ceiling had largely collapsed. Ormonde Castle is a national monument of Ireland.
Step inside
9 places to explore in 1600.
The record describes 9 distinct spots at Ormonde Castle, including 4 interiors: manor central porch with oriel, first-floor long gallery, carved limestone chimneypiece in the long gallery and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Ormonde Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1600, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Ormonde Castle.
The families that held Ormonde Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Held by the Butlers, Earls and Dukes of Ormond, from 1315 until the mid-20th century.
