Built in the late 15th century by the O’Briens of Lemeneagh Castle, Ballyportry remained occupied through the 16th and 17th centuries before falling into disrepair and disuse. The Statistical Survey of County Clare in 1808 makes mention of a poor family still taking shelter at Ballyportry. Miraculously, its four walls were intact, although open to the sky, when the ruin was acquired in the 1960s by New York architect, Robert Owen Brown.

As featured in The Guardian, click here to read the story
As featured in 25 Beautiful Homes January 2004

 

Over the next decade, Brown reverently researched and restored the tower to its original stature. The artistry and ingenuity of the early stonemasons had to be matched by their modern counterparts who were called upon to cut and replace missing stones, steps and arches in the restoration process. Bob Brown made Ballyportry his home until his untimely death in 1983.

Architect Siobhán Cuffe and her archaeologist husband, Pat Wallace, acquired the tower house in 1999 and set about conserving it, making it dry. Their work and that of their expert team is now for everyone to enjoy, particularly those wishing to savour the atmosphere and scale of life in an Irish tower house of 500 years ago. Siobhán’s sketch gives a better idea of the life and soul which has recently been breathed back into the tower.

Click here for Siobhán’s sketch.

     
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