Buttevant

Lombard Castle

The information board at the castle tells us "The term Lombard first appeared to describe the merchant adventurers, who followed the Normans into Ireland. They were mostly from Lucca in Lombardy, northern Italy. The Lombards occupied a prominent place in the civic life and political economy of Buttevant and also the Norman cities of Cork and Limerick. Their name often occurs on the role of city and county sheriff. A village south west of Buttevant, established in the 1600s is called Lombardstown. The Lombards were essentially wool merchants and their tower house was conveniently located adjacent to the Market House"

The two storey tower house is dated to the late 16th/early 17th century and may have been inhabited by the Lombards up to the 1730s. It was used as a school in the 18th and early 19th centuries. There are only a few features visible from the roadside. One of them being a pronounced batter at the base of the tower, see image below left. Huge dressed quions were used at the angles of the tower. The south wall of the tower has a single ogee headed ope on the top floor and an arrow loop on the ground floor. The are two blocked opes, pictured below right and bottom of page, in the wall that extends south from the tower. Probably the finest example of a merchants house in Ireland would be Rothe House in Kilkenny City.