Garrycloyne—Gleanings from History
About three miles to the northwest of Blarney Castle and village lies the townland of Garrycloyne. The old 18tth century road to Kanturk, Newmarket and North Kerry passes through here. The name in Irish is ‘An Garbh Chluain’ meaning a rough dell or glen. A shallow glen does form a small part of the area with a little stream flowing east to join the River Martin. This river marks the boundary with Ballynaratha on the eastern side.
Garrycloyne comprises 426 acres and is situated in the civil parish of the same name, in the Barony of the Barretts, district electoral of Greenfort., Sheets 62/63 of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map cover the area. In pre-Reformation times, Garrycloyne gave its name to a medieval parish which corresponded to much of the modern-day Catholic parish of Blarney, excluding Whitechurch. The ruins of the old parish church can be seen in Garrycloyne Old Cemetery, situated in Knocknalyre townland. There is no record to indicate when it was built but it probably dates from the late 12th century.
The MacCarthys of Blarney are credited with building Garrycloyne Castle in 1535, described by Lewis (1837) as ‘a lofty square tower’. He also mentions that the Travers family were granted the castle and manor house of Garrycloyne in 1604. Burkes Irish Family Records, p.1128 gives several pages of detail to the Travers family and their connection with Garrycloyne is also included.
The family came originally from Lancashire. John Travers of Courtmacsherry, Cork married Sarah, a sister of the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser. He died in 1618 and may have received the Garrycloyne Estate in return for his services prior to the Battle of Kinsale.
Zachary Travers was the younger of two sons born to John and Sarah Travers and received the Garrycloyne property for his inheritance. He succeeded his father as registrar on the Consistory Court (C. of I) of Cork. His son John was killed in January 1642 while in command of a troop of Dragoons under Lord Dungarvan.
Another John Travers of Garrycloyne Castle was born in 1748 and was succeeded by his son, also called John. He was the High Sheriff of Cork in 1805 and sold the Garrycloyne Estate to Samuel ~Townsend in 1837. However, Griffiths Valuation records that in 1850 John Travers Esq. had a house, gate-lodge, out-offices and over 32 acres of land at Knocknabehy (Birchill), Grenagh, leased from Francis Wyse, a landlord resident in Cork. John Travers died in 1854.
Griffith also shows that Samuel Townsend had ownership of the entire Garrycloyne townland amounting to 426 acres. He was using 290 acres, the manor house and the outbuildings. The remaining 136 acres were leased to local farmers. The Church of Ireland vicar of Garrycloyne Union had a house leased from Townsend.
Garrycloyne House was built by the Travers family and is described by Lewis as ‘spacious and well built on rising ground, overlooking a fine lawn of more than 100 acres, surrounded by fine plantations’, The Ordnance Survey map of 1842 clearly outlines the entrance gateway and lodge, facing the old Co9rk – Kanturk road. The carriage drive swept up to the house with the artificial lake on the right.
This lake was created by building an earthen bank to enclose a small stream which flowed down from the side of the house. The lake was partly oval in shape and some tiny islets were built near the centre to encourage wild fowl to nest. During the shooting season a wooden lodge on the lake bank was used as a shelter and for taking refreshment in cold weather. A copper kettle used by the fowlers has survived.
The Townsend family left Garrycloyne sometime during the 1860’s and the estate was later leased to the Barrys of Fermoy. Samuel Townsend of Garrycloyne was a son of Rev. Horatio Townsend, rector of Donoughmore.
The Barrys continued to live at Garrycloyne House for many years up to 1938. It was sold soon afterwards to a Mr. Scannell. He cut down most of the fine plantation of mature trees during the war years 1939-1945, when timber was very scarce. One huge tree proved impossible to fell with the axes and chain saws then available. The big house itself and its contents were bought by the Hammond Lane Metal Co. The furniture and fittings were auctioned off. At least one of the marble fireplaces was installed and is still in use in a farmhouse a few miles away. The roofless ruin of Garrycloyne is still there today. The Barretts owned the property for some time after the Scannell’s. They tried to drain off the artificial lake without success. It is now of course, much overgrown by roots and trees, more of a swamp. Waterfowl still come and the local gun club make occasional visits.
The Wiseman family, who had a farm nearby, bought the property from the Barretts and own it to the present day. The gate lodge has fallen down but the gates and pillars are still intact at present. (1988). Adjacent to the Wiseman home stand the old estate farm buildings. One in particular is a two-storey structure which may have been used at one time as a combined life-stock and grain store. Though now it is crumbling away it is still an impressive sight. It resembles a Victorian barrack block more than a farm building. When the visitor comes around to the rear he is confronted by another surprise – a double rectangle of high stone and brick walls, possibly more than two acres in area. The first impression, especially from a distance, is of a medieval walled town. The structure was in fact originally an orchard and vegetable gardens enclosed on all four sides by these walls which are at least ten to twelve feet high. It was fine for shelter and growth but the manual labour needed for its building and the outhouses was huge. However, labour was cheap and plentiful during the 18th and 19th centuries. Many local men were glad to work there.
Local recollections of Garrycloyne Castle during the 1940’s state that the old ruins were then fairly intact. It was still possible to climb to the battlements using the internal circular stone stairway. It was probably a fortified tower-house rather than a castle. The site chosen has little in the way of natural defences so a lengthy siege was not probably envisaged, rather the ability to withstand raids or attacks by small lightly armed bands. During 1948 or ’49 the ruins were levelled and all the stones were drawn away to build thew boundary walls around a new housing scheme.
The above article was written in 1988 by the late J.J. Duggan, Grenagh who was Chair of the Blarney and District Historical Society during 1995 – 1997.
