page_title: Ardfinnan Castle
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Ardfinnan Castle / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Ardfinnan Castle rare circular keep built during the early 13th century most likely by the Knights Hospitaller during their occupation of the castle. Received minor restoration in 19th century.
context_page_description: Ardfinnan Castle, is the sister castle of Lismore Castle and was built circa 1185 to guard the river crossing at Ardfinnan in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is situated on the River Suir, seven miles west of Clonmel. The castle is currently privately owned and is not open for public viewing.
  The Anglo-Norman castle is positioned on a large rocky incline and it looks out over the Suir valley with the Knockmealdown Mountains to the south, and the Galtee Mountains to the northwest. The castle is a parallelogram in shape with square battlements at the corners and a fortified entrance gateway.
context_section_description: The castle was built in 1185 by order of John of England, then Lord of Ireland, during his first expedition to Ireland.  To guard the northern border of Waterford, John's father Henry II of England proposed Ardfinnan and Tybroughney on the river Suir, with Lismore on the Blackwater as key positions to erect castles.  Most importantly, Ardfinnan would secure a passage from the Anglo-Norman-occupied southern sea-board into central Ireland.  John arrived in Waterford in April 1185, after which he soon granted the Cambro-Norman knight Maurice de Prendergast with the Manor of Ardfinnan, in which he was tasked with the construction of Ardfinnan Castle and to defend it as its governor.   
  In opposition to John's construction of the castles, Lismore Castle was taken by surprise in an attack by the Irish, and its governor, Robert de Barry, was slain along with his entire garrison.  King of Munster Donal O'Brien, King of Connacht Rory O'Conner and King of Desmond Dermod MacCarthy, now headed for Ardfinnan.  Opposite the imposing castle and on the other side of the river, it became aware to O'Brien that he would not be able to take it by force.  Indicating retreat, he turned back only to be pursued by the small garrison of knights holding Ardfinnan Castle, which for O'Brien would play the advantage.  He swiftly turned back towards Ardfinnan and surrounded the now exposed knights, slaying a large portion of them and subsequently taking Ardfinnan Castle.  After this and further successive defeats against the Irish Kings, John's original force of 300 men was decimated, and by December of that same year, 1185, he was summoned back to England by his father.   
  The castle was promptly retaken and would continue to regularly change hands between the vying Anglo-Normans, until it was handed over to the Knights Templar, and later granted to the Knights Hospitaller.  While the Hospitallers protected this important pass between Cashel and Lismore, they constructed the castle's surviving circular keep in the early 13th century.
caption: Front portion of the remains of the 13th-century keep, uncommon in Ireland for being round and not square in shape.
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