placenamesCarrigaholt
Carraig an Chabhaltaigh
The castle preserves successive families’ occupation, while nineteenth-century accounts describe a working fishing and trading port.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Carraig an Chabhaltaigh · Irish · main form · validated name
- Carrigaholt · English · main form
Place & story
A defended residence
Carrigaholt Castle was the fifteenth-century residence of the MacMahons, chiefs of West Corkavaskin. The five-storey tower occupies a corner of its enclosing bawn, overlooking the Shannon and Carrigaholt Bay. Local flagstone and limestone form its walls. Defensive features concentrate around the eastern entrance: a pointed doorway, an overhead murder-hole, gun-loops and a projecting bartizan. Vaulting survives at ground-floor and third-floor levels. [2]
O’Briens and Burtons
A fourth-floor limestone fireplace carries the inscription “D.B. 1603”, which the Office of Public Works associates with Daniel O’Brien, brother of the fourth Earl of Thomond. He took control of the tower early in the seventeenth century. The Burton family later lived there until the late nineteenth century, with Richard Burton its final family resident. Red-brick alterations record later occupation; the estate passed to the McGraths around 1919. [2]
Fishing and agricultural trade
Samuel Lewis’s 1837 account describes a quay funded through the Fishery Board and county grand-jury contributions. Herring fishing began in July, while grain, butter, pigs and hides moved through the port. The sheltered inner harbour remained shallow. Lewis recorded Captain Manby’s proposal to extend a pier from the decayed landing known as Lord Clare’s pier, improving shelter and allowing boats to use it nearer low tide. [3]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Clare
- Barony
- Moyarta
- Civil parish
- Moyarta
- Within
- Carrigaholt
- Coordinates
- 52.60694, -9.71253 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1412542 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Carrigaholt. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Carrigaholt Castle and Sea Wall · Office of Public Works
- Carrigaholt: A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) · Samuel Lewis
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.