roscrea heritage centre castle and damer house

Joseph Damer of Tipperary was granted the town and lordship of Roscrea in 1722. He married two years later and shortly afterwards built an elegant town house within the curtain walls of the old castle.

Such arrangements were common and later houses were often built beside or attached to the strongholds they replaced. The troubled state of the country meant that the Irish gentry generally found it wiser to live in castles or fortified tower houses until the end of the 17th century.

The house has a magnificent carved pine staircase, similar to the one at Cashel Palace. Another interesting feature is the scroll pedimented doorway. During most of the 19th century the building was used as a barracks. Restoration was carried out first by the Irish Georgian Society and then by the Roscrea Heritage Society. The fortress of the Roscrea dominated the heart of Roscrea. Exhibitions at the complex include the Kelly Kitchen, Prehistoric Midlands and the Monastic Midlands.