Clonmel

Town Walls

Murage grants were used for the construction of new town defences and for the upkeep and repair of existing town walls. They were granted for a fixed period by the King, as part of the English defence strategy. The earlist recorded evidence of Clonmel's town walls is a murage granted by Edward I in 1298. The town walls covered a rectangular area of roughly 14 hectares, which incorporated the boundary of St Mary's Church in the north-west corner of the town. A large part of the impressive walls can still be viewed from the graveyard at St Mary's, there is a rectangular corner tower, a wall walk and two mural towers. A clean up of the vegetation was taking place during my visit.

Three of the four main gateways into the town, Bridge Gate, East Gate AKA Kilsheelan Gate, and North Gate, plus the additional Water Gate and Postern Gate no longer survive, the original West Gate was rebuilt in a gothic style in 1835, see image below. The North Gate was previously known as Breach Gate, as it was close to this gate where Cromwell and his New Model Army breached the town walls in 1650.

Ogee window in a tower

Mural tower, north wall