Lydacan Castle

Lydacan Castle (also Lydican Castle) is about eight kilometers north of Gort in County Galway in Ireland . Lydacan was a 16th century tower house owned by the O'Heynes clan. The O'Heynes also built the castles of Ardrahan and Dunguaire in 1520. Owen O'Heyne, "the Toothless" (Eoghan Mantach - d. 1588) built Lydacan. The founding of the Kilmacduagh monastery is another indication of family influence.

The O'Heynes lands were given to the Crown of England by Hugh O'Heynes "the Yellow" (Aodh Buidhe) in the late 17th century, and the Lynches acquired the property and settled there. Lydacan was the family home in the 1770s. It was bought by Martin O'Flaherty in the mid-19th century and later sold by James O'Flaherty. It burned down in 1922 and is only preserved as a ruin.

Lydacan Castle has a door portal ( blocked with a squeeze gate ) in the west wall, which is rounded on the outside and an ogival shape on the inside similar to Newtown Castle . On all four 17 m high outer walls there are some brackets with machicolations . A small turret is located on the southwest corner.

To the left of the door is a small guardroom and to the right a short corridor leads to a spiral staircase that leads to the roof. The room behind the door is accessible from the first floor through a murder hole. There is also a murder hole above the lobby on the ground floor. It is a large rectangular room that is lit by a gap in the south wall. A similar slot in the opposite wall is partially blocked and a chimney is next to it in the wall. There is no chimney, the smoke comes out over the remains of the slot. The castle is mainly illuminated by a multitude of long, long light openings. There is a diamond mesh in the vault and further vaults above the second and third floors.

In Town Country Lydacan ( Irish At Laighdeacán ) is just north of the road to Kinvarra, a Bullaun that name and a Cillin . A townland of the same name lies between Oranmore and Claregalway .

Individual evidence

↑ A murder hole (no meurtrière) is a hole in the ceiling of a passage in a castle through which the defenders fire, and harmful substances or objects, such as stones, arrows, boiling oil or water, unslaked lime, hot sand, or tar the attackers could pour.

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53.11962 -8.840089Coordinates: 53 ° 7 ′ 10.6 " N , 8 ° 50 ′ 24.3" W.

[1] A murder hole (no meurtrière) is a hole in the ceiling of a passage in a castle through which the defenders fire, and harmful substances or objects, such as stones, arrows, boiling oil or water, unslaked lime, hot sand, or tar the attackers could pour.