View of a substantial house at Ballykett, formerly a castle (no longer extant). The building is composed of two main storeys and a mansarded third storey, with a porch to the front. Outside the enclosing wall there are three simple buildings, distributed through the countryside, which is hilly with few trees. A fragment of printed plate representing a horseman and a soldier on foot attacking a third kneeling figure is pasted in the foreground. The illustration is surrounded by an oval frame.<br><br>The original owners were O’Donnells. The 1st patent for a fair in Ballykeight (i.e. Ballykett) was granted by James 1st to Sir Daniel O’Brien in 1623. The site was later occupied by the Hickmans, and successive buildings erected there. The Landed Estates database provides information regarding the Hickmans’ occupancy of this site and successive buildings there. At the end of the nineteenth century Westropp lists Ballykett, barony of Moyarta, among the towers which are more than ‘mere sites or foundations’. <br><br>Sources: <br><em>State of the fairs and markets in Ireland: report of the Commissioners</em> (HMSO, 1852-53)<br>Landed Estates Database, Moore Institute, NUI Galway, at http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/estate-show.jsp?id=1851. Accessed 10.10. 2014. <br>T.J. Westropp, ‘Notes on the lesser castles or “peel towers” of the County Clare’, <em>Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy’</em> (1889-1901), vol. 5 (1898-1900), pp. 348-365.
Inscribed in Image
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Caption within boundaries of image
– Ballykitt
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Image Details
| Genre |
Landscape
|
| Technique |
Collages,
Engravings,
Pen and ink drawings
|
| Subject(s) |
Architecture
|
| Geographical Location |
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Ballykett
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Townland
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Clare
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County
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Munster
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Province
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| Keyword(s) |
Archaeological sites,
Birds,
Buildings,
Castles,
Hills,
Horses,
Houses,
Lands,
Mansions,
Men,
People,
Soldiers,
Trees
|
| Colour |
Handcoloured
|
| Dimensions |
8 cm x 6.3 cm |
| Published / created |
1681 |
Bibliographical Details
| Travel Account |
Observations in a Voyage through the Kingdom of Ireland
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| Contributor(s) |
|
| Print or manuscript |
Manuscript |
| Location of image in copy |
p. 199 |
| Source copy |
National Library of Ireland
MS 392
|
| Permalink |
https://ttce.universityofgalway.ie/irelandillustrated/view/image/ii_image_1375023058 |
| Rights |
Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland |
Related text from travel account
| Ballykitt was anciently a castle, but reduc’d to what it is by Henry Hickman Esq<sup>r</sup>. Here is yeerly kept a fair for black Cattle on the Feast day of S<sup>t</sup> John Baptist, called Ballykitt fair. <br>This is part of the Estate of the Right Hon<sup>ble</sup> Henry Earle of Thomond within a mile of Kilrush Town.<br> Note that Irish Cattle at 4 yeers old here are held marketable if fatt wherefore not so fitt for long Voyages as the English 8 yeer old stall fed Beef. [p. 199] |
