Gowran Castle

About

Gowran Castle is located in the centre of Gowran, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The castle is an early-19th-century manor house, and was fully restored between 2013 and 2014.

The first Gowran Castle was built in 1385 by James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, close to the centre of the town of Gowran, County Kilkenny, Ireland. He made it his usual residence. James was called the Earl of Gowran. In 1391 he bought Kilkenny Castle and a large part of County Kilkenny. James died in Gowran Castle in 1405 and is buried in St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran together with his father James Butler, 2nd Earl of Ormond. His grandfather James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond and his great-great-grandfather Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick and 6th Chief Butler of Ireland. James the 2nd Earl was usually called The Noble Earl, being a great-grandson, through his mother, of King Edward I of England.

Gowran had been a settled place and a place of importance long before the arrival of the Normans in Ireland in 1169 A.D. Kings of Ossory were often referred to as kings of Gowran. The Mac Giolla Padraig (Modern day family name Fitzpatrick ), Chief Rulers of Ossory, had a residence in Gowran. O’Donnchadha (Dunphy) was the chief of Gowran and most of the area around it. Local place names like Rathvaun, Rathcash, Rathcusack, and Rathgarvan, signified the presence of raths where people lived, farmed and foraged for a livelihood. Raths were also burial places. Larger sites were called Duns. The village of Dungarvan (County Kilkenny) also in the parish of Gowran is another example of such a settlement. The presence of the 3rd/4th Century Christianised Ogham stone on display in the historic St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran would also indicate a place of residence and worship dating back 2000 years.

There are other ancient sites close to Gowran. For example, nearby Tullaherin Church, graveyard and Round Tower dating to the 6th Century. Freestone Hill Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine situated 4 km from Gowran was a Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement where Roman coins and other artefacts were found during archaeological surveys in 1948 and 1951.

The Butlers were in possession of the lands in the Gowran area for almost 500 years. Following the Norman Invasion of Ireland in 1169 a grant of 44,000 acres, the Manor of Gowran was made to Theobald Fitzwalter ( Theobald Walter, 1st Baron Butler ) 1st Chief Butler of Ireland.

In addition to building Gowran Castle, the Butlers built other castles in the area such as Ballysean Castle (Sometimes spelt Ballyshawnmore, Ballysheanmor, Ballyshanemore) near the centre of Gowran, Neigham Castle 4 km from Gowran and Paulstown Castle situated between Gowran and Paulstown 3 km from Gowran.

Following the Cromwellian invasion in Ireland in 1650, Gowran was besieged by Oliver Cromwell. Gowran Castle was attacked and badly damaged. For the following 300 years, the Agar family were a major influence in the Gowran area. Several generations of the Agars occupied Gowran Castle and like the Butlers before them, many of them are buried in St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran.

- 489 AD - Kings of Ossory referred to as kings of Gowran had a residence in the area

- 754 - Battle of Bealach Gabhrán (Old name for Gowran)

- 938 - Gowran and the area around it was part of the ancient cantreds of Oskelan and Ogenty which formed part of the lands of Ossory. The Gowran area was occupied by the O Dunphy clans. The Mac Giolla Padraig were the chief rulers of Ossory at the time.

- 1169 - After the Norman invasion the Manor of Gowran was 44 000 acres

- 1385 - James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond builds a castle close to the town wall and makes it his usual residence.

- 1391 - James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond bought Kilkenny Castle and a large part of Kilkenny

- 1501 - Margaret FitzGerald, Countess of Ormond rebuilt Gowran Castle. She also decorated St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran.

- 1710 - Lewis Chaigneau, a Dublin merchant owner of Gowran Castle has Gowran and Castle grounds surveyed. In the survey map produced, the castle and the walled town of Gowran are shown

- 1713 - Henry Agar builds a new castle close to the Butler Castle using materials from the former Castle.

- 1747 - Following the death of Henry Agar in 1746 his wife Ann offered for sale stock of Henry Agar decd, sheep, cattle horses, at Castle. Also, colts & fillies got on mares by horses from England. Henry inherited the Gowran Castle estate from his father James Agar in 1733. As a result of his marriage, he acquired an interest in the Ellis family's Dublin property on the R. Liffey between Arran Quay and Phoenix Park ; this property later passed into the Agar family. He died on 18 November 1746. His widow married 2nd, 20 January 1753, George Dunbar of County Fermanagh, and died on 14 April 1765; she was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on 17 April 1765. Administration of her effects was granted by the Prerogative Court of Armagh to her second husband, on 11 September 1765.

- 1700s - By the end of the 1700s, many of the aristocracy had moved away from Ireland and lived in England following the 1798 rebellion.

- 1816–1819 - Henry Agar 2nd Viscount Clifden rebuilt the Castle (current building) to the designs of William Robertson.

- 1839 - The first Ordnance Survey of Ireland maps show the Gowran Castle Demesne containing 846 Acres, 2 Rood, 10 Perches of land.