Ballinard Castle, Ballinard, Co. Tipperary South

This imposing four-storey tower house, measuring roughly 9 by 11 metres, stands as a testament to centuries of Irish history, its limestone walls still inhabited today despite the numerous alterations made over the years. The castle now forms part of a 19th-century farmyard complex, with a Victorian house cleverly built onto its southern end; you can still spot the blocked-up first-floor window of the tower's main chamber from the landing of the adjoining house.

The castle's documented history stretches back to at least 1525, when Edmund Butler of Ballinard served as a juror for the Liberty Court of Tipperary. The Butlers held the castle through various colourful episodes, including Richard fitz Edmund Butler's horse-stealing escapade in 1556, when he and his companions made off with 40 horses from Maurice Stoke. By the mid-17th century, the property had passed to Doctor Morrish Roach, an Irish Catholic who held it until the Civil Survey of 1654-56 described it as "a good castle yett wanting repayre with a narrow Barbicon." The castle later came into the possession of the Roche family, with David, seventh Viscount Roche of Fermoy, residing here; his daughter Amy married into the Everard family and erected the 1646 plaque that still adorns Fethard's town hall. When the Roche male line died out, the estate passed through female inheritance to the Lindsay family.

The tower house itself reveals centuries of defensive architecture and domestic adaptation. Originally accessed through a pointed doorway on the western face, complete with a yett-hole for securing a gate, the castle features the typical defensive elements of its era: a spiral staircase tucked into the northwest corner, multiple mural chambers, wall cupboards, and a double garderobe chute exiting through the eastern wall. The interior chambers retain many original features, including ogee-headed windows, a joggle-jointed fireplace on the second floor, and a slightly pointed barrel vault covering the third floor. Evidence of an earlier adjoining building can still be seen in the roof coping remains on the southern face, supported by two crude corbels that suggest a two-storey structure once stood here. Despite extensive modifications, including broken-out windows replaced with modern glazing and new doorways connecting to the Victorian house, the castle maintains its essential medieval character whilst serving as a unique family home.