Dromore Castle

Judgement Day

Anybody know Dromore Castle - was it demolished as this article implies?

http://www.limerickleader.ie/leader-memories/Dromore-Castle-How-it-came.4820521.jp

phog

It's still standing as far as I know , the roof was taken of many years ago (to avoid paying rates, I think) but the castle still stands.

tfitzgerald

the castle is still there but there are plans to demolish it something to do with the stone used to build it not being good and allowing in a lot of damp so they cant do it up

Raiser

tfitzgerald wrote: »

the castle is still there but there are plans to demolish it something to do with the stone used to build it not being good and allowing in a lot of damp so they cant do it up

That sounds stone mad very strange?

- Is this something we should be visiting before its gone???

How to you get there is it worth a day trip for a look around?

tfitzgerald

i dont think its open to the public but you could try its well worth seeing up close

wingnut

Have never seen it up close but it provided a beautiful backdrop for days spend swimming at the lake. Will be a pity to see it knocked. Stones can't be that bad if it is still standing!

amiable

wingnut wrote: »

Have never seen it up close but it provided a beautiful backdrop for days spend swimming at the lake. Will be a pity to see it knocked. Stones can't be that bad if it is still standing!

Some great days dossing school and cycling out there on a hot day and the look teachers give when go back to school next day sun burnt or tanned
Great place for a swim.
Hope the castle doesn't get knocked.
It was used for the movie 'High Spirits'

wingnut

Anyone been out recently. We stopped going there as they sealed off the route down and an undesirable crowd were hanging around with baseball bats etc.

Raiser

wingnut wrote: »

Anyone been out recently. We stopped going there as they sealed off the route down and an undesirable crowd were hanging around with baseball bats etc.

Limerick County Councillors?

gihj

Raiser wrote: »

Limerick County Councillors?

Gardai perhaps,Avoiding the warzone that is the city.:rolleyes:

Tango Alpha 51

gihj wrote: »

Gardai perhaps,Avoiding the warzone that is the city.:rolleyes:

What a stupid comment to pass. You slag AGS here in this thread, yet in your own thread about scumbag neighbours, you praise them ??????????. You have no idea as to what members have to put up with during the course of their duties really do you !!!

tfitzgerald

buzzman wrote: »

What a stupid comment to pass. You slag AGS here in this thread, yet in your own thread about scumbag neighbours, you praise them ??????????. You have no idea as to what members have to put up with during the course of their duties really do you !!!

i really think that he was joking about ags and the smiley at the end gave it away besides we all know how hardworking the country guards are:rolleyes:

Lee Condell

Myself and friends cycled out there and camped in the late 70's and at that time the structure was still very good. When McMahon's the timber yard bought the site they ripped the roof, all the floors and three of each four piece marble fireplace out. The sotry was that they didn't want to have to pay the rates as they bought the site for the forest, so they stripped it of everything of any value but stopped short of knocking down masonry. The main stairway marble was stripped as well, but the masonry stairs to the towers were perfect if you accessed them from the first floor. My father remembers calling there as a boy when it was still lived in. An American who lived in a modern bungalow below the castle on the West side came to check that we weren't vandalising the place and when he realised that we weren't used to bring us fresh bread and milk when we camped there. he told us that he had tried to buy the place to save it in the 60's, but simply couldn't afford it.
The castle remained in remarkably good condition until the nid 90's when a land slip took away the level area to the NE side. The last I heard it had been used in the making of a film shortly after it had been bought by an American family and the last time I went there in the late 90's the lodge and gate were firmly locked.
The sad thing is that though a relatively modern building it could have been a huge tourist attraction as the site that it's on surounded by forest with the vista over the lake is simply stunning. To many driving via Foynes to the coast from Limerick the sight of the turrets looked like the 'disney' castle as my sisters used to call it.
What a terrible shame it wasn't saved!

Clareboy

Dromore Castle was built in the late 19th century by the Earl of Limerick. The design was based on the buildings on top of the Rock of Cashel. Yes, its a pity that it was allowed to fall into ruin. Unfortunately, there was no appreciation of buildings of architectural merit in this country until very recently.

phog

The film that was made there was High Spirits.

Judgement Day

And, better still it's available from Amazon! I'll be ordering a copy next time PP pays out.

tfitzgerald

You can't see anything of the castle in that film and the film is a dead Loss and that's coming from an xtra from the movie it was filmed at the castle but they added on bits of props all over the place the best part of the film was the White horse in it

RikkFlair

Feck I hope its not demolished, sounds like a good spot to take a few pics and have a bit of a wander around, although if its private property then not much hope of that.

dos30

I was there probably around this time last year.
Here are some photos I took

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33980179@N02/sets/72157622020370334/

Judgement Day

Thanks for posting - just goes to show, once again, how accurate our wonderful newspapers are. :rolleyes:

aussie_mella

dos30 wrote: »

I was there probably around this time last year.
Here are some photos I took

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33980179@N02/sets/72157622020370334/

Dos30, your photos are lovely.

I know this thread is a bit old, but I wonder if anyone knows who to contact to view the castle ruins up close?

Judgement Day

As far as I know the present owner lives in the modern house below the castle see the 1st post http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=64560125&postcount=1 I was there years ago but the new house was not there then so there was no problems with access. Spooky and damp but a real gem which should be saved.

the drifter

Its like 5 minutes from my house and ive never been there.

Lovely pike in the lakes around it though

Berty

We used to swim there with the castle backdrop. Shame to see it knocked of course but its likely beyond economical repair.

Judgement Day

Beer Baron wrote: »

We used to swim there with the castle backdrop. Shame to see it knocked of course but its likely beyond economical repair.

It's not in danger of being knocked or do you know otherwise?

varberg

From reading the above it obviously holds a lot of memories for people and has been a landmark in the area.

Its a Stunning looking castle, crazy to knock it, what are the plans, put up some tacky english style council houses?..wouldnt be that surprising in limerick...
I mean, that castle wouldnt look out of place in bavaria or switzerland and the area would be developed as a tourist attraction if it hadnt been thought of decades ago!

Wouldnt it have been lovely to develop the area as a nature reserve and a walking and recreation area, a small coffee shop and nature all around, plenty of walks and fresh air to get away from the city.

Something like that or something even better would probably be done with it if it was located on the mainland. But its in ireland, so..

Judgement Day

phog wrote: »

The film that was made there was High Spirits.

Came across this interesting shot of a Bedford OB bus outside Dromore Castle during the making of "High Spirits" in 1988.

Stellaluna

Hope it's ok to post these - mods can feel free to remove if they break any rules. These pictures are scanned from the Winter 2011 issue of the Old Limerick Journal and are pictures of the castle when it was in use as a residence in the 1940s. If you can get a hold of a copy there's a pretty comprehensive history of the castle. As I understand it the present owners bought the castle with the dream of restoring it but prohibitive insurance costs and planning issues have resulted in it being left in its current state.

varberg

Wow.Stunning photos, the drawing room reminds me of one of the rooms in Kilkenny Castle.

If it was restored it could be potentially one of the biggest tourist attractions in the south west.

Roisinbunny

It's such a shame, just like Curraghchase, I don't know why the OPW or another agency don't step in to restore.. Maybe I'm cynical but I often think its a Limerick thing.. Hopefully the merging of city and county will get some kind of momentum and motivation going putting together a proper roadmap for the whole county.. Start with sorting this "Opera Centre" debacle everyone was raving on about at the start and then start fixing up gems like Dromore..

Stellaluna

I've read in a few places that the reason the OPW/Local Authority won't step in or at least facilitate the owners in restoring the castle is that the castle is relatively young (~130 yrs old) and has not played a significant part in local or national history. The castle was built as a country retreat for the 3rd Earl of Limerick who lived there til 1896. The 4th Earl rarely used the castle and closed it up before the 1st World War. The castle was sold before the Second World War to a timber merchant to be stripped of all its valuable wood but the timber merchant kept it as a residence before eventually having to strip it and sell it to pay off debts. Other than the fact that the castle was built using the rent money of Limerick tenants paid to the 3rd Earl of Limerick there isn't a hugely significant history attached. That being said, I think the castle's fairytale looks and location speak for themselves and the place should be restored. If it was turned into a small scale Dromoland Castle type affair I think it would do well and create a decent number of jobs. Of course it would cost a fantastic sum of money and they'd have to sort the damp problem!

the_blackstuff

Here are a couple of links to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage with some more history of Dromore Castle and a few pictures of it in its current state. Its actually a super resource documenting most noteworthy buildings in each county in ireland. Worth a look for your own area too.

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=LC&regno=21901202#

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=images&county=LC&regno=21901202

Stellaluna

the_blackstuff wrote: »

Here are a couple of links to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage with some more history of Dromore Castle and a few pictures of it in its current state. Its actually a super resource documenting most noteworthy buildings in each county in ireland. Worth a look for your own area too.

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=LC&regno=21901202#

http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=images&county=LC&regno=21901202

Yes to this I'm not ashamed to say I've rinsed buildings of Ireland and www.landedestates.ie for places to visit and photograph or to look up the history of places I've visited previously. There's a lot of overlap in terms of the buildings covered by both registers.

Stab*City

The castle is still there and now with the new road in Kildimo you really get a good view of it from the main road. We used to swim out there as kids and fish there as adults. Lovely spot. Water was crystal last time i was there.

Judgement Day

It seems that "High Spirits" wasn't the only movie to include Dromore as this screenshot from a trailer for the elusive 1991 movie "Fatal Inheritance" shows a brief aerial shot. There may be more but I haven't the full film to hand - yet.

Stellaluna

Dromore needs a better film agent! With those fairy tale looks and chiselled features it deserves to be in a big budget period drama at the very least

wigsa100

Anyone know the directions to this please that could give them to me quickly please? I want to head out there now as I'm bored!

Poxyshamrock

wigsa100 wrote: »

Anyone know the directions to this please that could give them to me quickly please? I want to head out there now as I'm bored!

After Kildimo (coming from Limerick), look out for a sign that takes you to Bleach Lough. It is a right hand turn off the main road.
You should also be able to see Dromore Castle from the distance where they removed that sharp turn in the last few years.

wigsa100

Poxyshamrock wrote: »

After Kildimo (coming from Limerick), look out for a sign that takes you to Bleach Lough. It is a right hand turn off the main road.
You should also be able to see Dromore Castle from the distance where they removed that sharp turn in the last few years.

Thank you! Didn't end up going but will check it out this week.

edwood

Off limits to the public. Went looking for it today to try and shoot a college project. Couldn't get to it. Loads of farmers land signs trespassers will be shot etc. Unless we were going wrong way. Disappointed.

Spudmonkey

I went in there a couple of months back. One of the locals told me that I should just walk in and play ignorant if anyone saw me. There were a couple of dogs inside the gate near the gatehouse but they were a couple of aul pets.

Didn't walk around it but just took a few photos from the front. It's a fright to see something as impressive as that falling into disrepair.

MarkR

Pictures are interesting, but it might be best to start a new thread about this, if anyone is interested. The black and white photos were amazing. :-)