a Newtown Castle brochure

The Castle in Use Today
Burren College of Art
Newtown Castle forms part of the Burren College
of Art and as such is used regularly as an
exhibition space.
Founded in 1993, Mary Hawkes-Greene and her late
husband Michael Greene, and opened in 1994, the
Burren College of Art offers the student the opportunity
to develop creative potential in the unique environment of
the Burren with the critical assistance of international
faculty.
The Burren Annual is a scheme for an annual
exhibition of international significance that is
intended to enable experimentation and
innovation in the curation and site-specific
exhibition of new work in visual art. Four artists,
drawn together by a curator will show site
specific installations on the four floors of
Newtown Castle each year.
Ten years on from the castle’s restoration the
first Burren Annual Exhibition opened during
the 10th anniversary celebrations and continues
each year.
Weddings &
Party Events:
The Castle is also
available for hire and
is a regular host to
wedding parties and
other events.
For further info about
hiring
the
castle
please
call
to
reception or phone:
065 7077200
Newtown Castle
Ballyvaughan, Co Clare
Burren College of Art is committed to the initial
education of artists, and to their continuing professional
development.
We offer graduate, undergraduate and artist residency
programmes to students and artists from around the
world. The College aims to be the greatest little art school
in the world, and a forum of international significance for
the debate and development of fine art.
Since it’s inception, the College has expanded with the
addition of a superb 6500 square feet building housing
twenty exemplary studio spaces and a large gallery.
The National University of Ireland, Galway has now
joined Burren College of Art to deliver the first Irish
Master of Fine Art (MFA) programme.
BURREN COLLEGE OF ART
Newtown Castle, Ballyvaughan, Co Clare
www.burrencollege.ie
We hope you have enjoyed your visit
to Newtown Castle and we look
forward to seeing you in the future.
Phone: 065 7077200
Fax: 065 7077201
E-mail: info@burrencollege.ie
Residence of the O’Loghlin’s
“Princes of the Burren”
NEWTOWN CASTLE
Exterior View
Newtown Castle
is a distinctive 16th century
fortified tower house built originally for a branch of the
O’Briens but passing thereafter into the possession of the
powerful local family of the O’Loughlens.
History
When John O’Donovan the great Gaelic scholar visited the
area in 1837, Charles O’Loghlen was in possession of the
tower and was locally known as “King of the Burren”.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Newtown
Castle was occupied by Peter O’Loghlen whose title was
“Prince of the Burren”.
As a fortified tower house, Newtown was essentially a
dwelling built with an eye to defence. Its tall slender
profile reflects the vertical arrangement of the living
quarters characteristics of such dwellings.
The lower walls act as a sort of buttress while, “shot holes,
from which the base of the walls could be raked by fire, are
ingeniously contrived behind the flat pointed arches of the
base of the round part of the building on all four
sides” (M.Leask). The first three floors exhibit many defensive features such as narrow slit windows, gun loops and
murder holes, while around he steeply pitched slated roof
is a parapet walk with defended projections or
machicoulis.
Restoration
The restoration of Newtown Castle was intelligent, swift
and masterly in its craftsmanship. The architect and his
team of craftsmen restored the wickerwork framed stone
and mortar domes of the chambers, relaid the floors with
Moher flag, reinserted the mullioned windows and gun
loops, repaired the stairs, and with the support of the
archaeological evidence, recreated handsome wooden
circular balcony in the upper chamber. Three masons,
five carpenters and seven general workers hammered and
sawed and built for three months, often six days a week,
until the final great day was reached. One glorious morning in June 1994, the roof - a birdcage cone of seven tons
of solid Irish oak which had been assembled, mortised
and tennoned on the ground was, in one magnificent
gesture, hoisted into place and the castle was crowned
once again.
From Basement to Battlements
Starting on the ground floor and ascending the slender
spiral stairway we find:
Ground Floor: Just behind the front entrance on the
right, there is a small chamber in the north east corner of
the base better known as the “doghouse”. The circular
main chamber on the ground floor was used for storing
food. Its twelve foot thick walls and darkness made it an
ideally cool larder. The ceiling is covered in wattle and
daub with its twigs still intact.
Second Floor: Now called the Scriptorium, the second
floor features a wattle ceiling, already mentioned, as well
as three gun loops and a door from which , it is
speculated, occupants could exit the castle by means of a
30 ft ladder.
Main Hall: Situated on the third floor, the Main Hall with
its fine balcony allows an unimpeded view of the beautiful restoration work done on the roof, made from seven
tons of solid Irish oak - mortised, tennoned, dowelled and
clad in Killaloe slates.
The Main Hall, a reflection of the status of the
O’Loghlens’, provides commanding views of the Burren
landscape and Galway Bay from its four windows facing
north, south, east and west. To the north, they picks out
Connemara, Galway Bay, the Martello Tower at
Finnavarra Point and Ballyvaughan Village; to the South
Corkscrew Hill and valley; to the East, Ailwee Cave and
Ballyalban; to the west, Newtown Trail with its rich flora
and fauna, sheep and goat cahirs, 19th century water
works, folly and lime kiln. Further west, but requiring
closer inspection are three “fúlachta fiadh” (ancient
cooking sites) under Cappanwalla mountain.
Domed Wattle Ceilings
The ground and second floors have very fine examples and
original domed wattle ceilings. Wattling was a 5th century
Irish craft where hazel rods were woven into basket weave,
turned upside down, supported with beams of timber,
then caked with lime and mortar. The lime may well have
come from a precursor of the lime kiln on the hillside
behind the castle while the sand probably come from the
sandpit at the end of the field adjacent to the Art College.
These were mixed with the animal blood to create a kind
of concrete and then layered with stone to create a level
upper floor.
First Floor: Here we find four narrow windows with
original mullions and gun loops beside each other for
defence. The ceiling has been restored to its former glory
with the sympathetic use of genuine Irish oak. Another
new feature is the cut limestone lintel over the fireplace.
An installation presented by land artist Gordon Woods
entitled “Ulter-Munster The Restoration”, featuring Burren
limestone, Donegal peat and Ulster bog oak, finds a
natural setting here; it represents a symbolic restoration
of wood to Munster in recognition of past destruction of
woodland.
Ancient Manuscripts
Looking to the rich tradition of third level learning in the
Burren, we find close-by the ruins of the medieval law
school of the O’Davorens at Cahermacnaghten (dating
from c1500 AD) and the O’Dálaigh bardic school at
Finavarra - respectively brehons and hereditary bards to
the O’Loghlens. Honouring this tradition the Scriptorium presents copy folios from the famous Egerton 88
glossary of the Brehon Laws compiled by the O’Daveron’s
in the 16th Century - the original of which is now housed
in the British Museum. Linking with the Burren College’s vocation in the fin arts, the scriptorium also presents a limited edition facsimile copy of the Book of Kells
representing the finest example of the celtic illuminated
manuscript tradition.