Castlegarde castle

Castlegarde, Cappamore, County Limerick

The oldest inhabited in Ireland built in 1198 by the O’Briens.

A Geraldine towerhouse used as a late-medieval fortress by the Earls of Desmond until the confiscation of their palatinate.

Castlegarde known under different names through the centuries (Garth, Kass, Lannengard, Castlegarre) changed hands many times.

It was owned by Deputy Murrough Keogh in the mid 16^th Century, then Sir George Boucher (1588), Henry Early of Bath (1654), Henry Bally (1659), his son John and his decedents over the next century, although there is still some confusion as to the name of the owner in the late 17^th century.

The honourable Waller O’Grady acquired Castlegarde in 1820 – (he was the son of an eminent lawyer Standish O’Grady, 1^st Viscount Guillamore) he appointed the famous architects ‘the Pain Brothers’ to design an enlargement and restoration programme for the Castle in baronial style.