Editing Dromineer (section)

==Dromineer Castle (tower house)==
This castle/towerhouse began as a two storey 13th-century hall house and was later converted into a tower house in the 15th/16th century. It was built by the followers of Thomas Butler Esq. in the 13th century. The hall house was originally only two storeys high, but two additional storeys were later added, and vaults added to the ground floor. A base batter is present and can be attributed to the earlier structure. The conversion to a castle/towerhouse has resulted in a rectangular shape to the castle which is 11×15 metres. By 1299, the Cantwell family were tenants, with Thomas Cantwell paying taxes on the castle.{{fact|date=October 2017}}

The building then fell into Gaelic hands, and the Ormond O’Kennedys were responsible for the remodelling of the building into a tower house. Many of the windows were modified during the conversion from hall to tower house.{{fact|date=October 2017}} 

In 1582 the Butler Earls of Ormond re-captured the castle/towerhouse, and the Cantwells returned as tenants until c. 1640. {{fact|date=October 2017}}

In the Civil Survey of 1654–56 the castle was described as the "Mannor of Dromineer &c appertaineth a Courte Leete & Courte Barron with all the Rights privileges & immunities belonging to a mannor. Uppon the sd lands stands an old castle, six thatch houses, and fowerteene cottages." The proprietor of the castle in 1640 was John Cantwell, of Cantwells Court, in Kilkenny. {{fact|date=October 2017}}

In 1650, the castle was seized by Cromwellian forces and garrisoned. It was returned the Earl of Ormond following the occupation by Cromwell. It was occupied until 1688. The castle/towerhouse fell into ruin in the late 17th century and was sold by the Earl of Ormond in the late 19th century.{{fact|date=October 2017}}

A [[bawn]] wall also surrounds the castle in places. Many of the large quadrangular windows are 17th-century features.{{fact|date=October 2017}}