Oranmore Castle has witnessed many turbulent episodes since being built in the late 15th century. Its history has now been documented by Gerard Martin O’Brien in a comprehensive, richly illustrated book. Gerard tells JUDY MURPHY how he came to write it and how the castle still retains some of its secrets.

“I love writing and I love rummaging through old books and files, and making connections,” says Gerard O’Brien. Those traits made him the perfect candidate when the owners of Oranmore Castle decided they wanted to produce a book about the history of the historic tower house that lies on the coast of Galway Bay, on the edge of Oranmore village.

Going on its design, the original castle is likely to have been built in late 1400s, and was the work of the Mac William Burkes, who later became earls of Clanricarde – and it’s possible there was an earlier building on the site too.

As Gerard explains, researching a project such as this, where there are gaps in the history of the building and its occupants, a certain amount of speculation is required.

In his case, it’s informed speculation as he’s been a regular visitor to Oranmore Castle for decades. And because architecture is another of his passions, he’s spent a lot of his time there staring at doorways and ceilings, assessing their original configurations and how these might have changed through the centuries.

People with an interest in architecture will revel in his overview of the building’s layout, while those who are interested in people and history will be intrigued by the various residents of the castle through the centuries.

Part of the Clanricardes’ massive property portfolio in Galway, this castle was leased to different occupants from the late 1500s onward, although nothing was seamless, due to the various conflicts that affected the country at large, especially in the middle of the 17th century. The Clanricardes and their property were not immune from these.

The Confederate Wars of the mid-1600s, the arrival of Cromwell’s forces shortly after, and then William of Orange’s victory over King James in the 1690s, made for traumatic times, when the castle’s occupancy changed frequently.

But, for many years, several of Galway’s ‘Tribes’ were interlinked with the property.

In 1666, the Clanricardes – who had lost control of the castle when the Cromwellians took hold – were back in control and leased it to Walter Athy for a 42-year period.

When Athy’s daughter, Mary, married Walter Blake in 1692, the Blakes became the lessees; he was a Protestant, a great advantage at that time. The Blakes bought it in the 1740s and several generations lived there. But even before the Great Famine, they were in financial difficulties and several thousand acres of their land were offered for sale in the 1820s. Meanwhile, records from the middle of the 19th century describe the castle as being in ruins. In 1854, it was bought by Dublin solicitor James Dillon Meldon, who went on to become one of the biggest landowners in the West. He never lived there, however, and after Ireland gained independence, it was at risk, like many other big houses, of being knocked down.

But at that time too, figures from the Irish literary revival, such as WB Yeats, Lady Gregory and Oliver St John Gogarty, were on a mission to have these castles restored and inhabited. This was documented in a letter from Gogarty to Lady Leonie Leslie of Castle Leslie in Monaghan, in 1925. Her son, Shane Leslie, was part of this cultural group and, eventually, in 1946, it was Shane Leslie’s daughter, Anita, who bought Oranmore Castle and set about restoring it – it had previously been purchased by an American woman in 1934, but no restoration work had ever been carried out.

Pictured: Gerard Martin O’Brien, author of ‘Oranmore – A Strong Castle Upon the Sea-Side – A History’ pictured outside the castle. PHOTO: BRIAN HARDING.