Do you know these places?

Irish Stones

I've happened to see an old movie where these castles were shown. Do you know their names and where they are?
The first and second photo are of the same place, seen from two different points of view.
Thanks in advance!

https://ibb.co/9cPgbCC
https://ibb.co/fCS8GS6
https://ibb.co/CV0w0tj

mel.b

Number 3 looks like Ballyportry to me, on the Corofin-Gort Rd. Not sure about the other one.

Irish Stones

mel.b wrote: »

Number 3 looks like Ballyportry to me, on the Corofin-Gort Rd. Not sure about the other one.

Thanks, but allow me to say that it doesn't look like Ballyportry to me.
The one in my photo misses the tall section to the north side. The vegetation might have changed in the last decades, but the castle doesn't match what I see on Google Street View.
Thanks!

hugedinosaur

How did you come across the old movie? What type of film is it, a professional movie available to the public, or a home movie? Are there credits or any information to say these castles are in County Clare? Is it possible they are somewhere else in Ireland? If you haven't done so already, you could try going through each of the links on this page: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/archaeology/tower_houses.htm, and then click on the Bing maps satellite view to look for one at the edge of a lake, or one beside a road, or otherwise try zooming around on this map: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/maps/genmap/index.html#M9C-9.09977!52.88539Z10F1L12g1211*. What other places or landmarks are shown in the movie? That information might give some clues about where the castles are.

tototoe

Irish Stones wrote: »

I've happened to see an old movie where these castles were shown. Do you know their names and where they are?
The first and second photo are of the same place, seen from two different points of view.
Thanks in advance!

https://ibb.co/9cPgbCC
https://ibb.co/fCS8GS6
https://ibb.co/CV0w0tj

1 and 2 look very like craganowen before it was renovated. Very like it.

The third one looks like the tower between sixmilebridge and kilmurry. No idea of the name though

chuckles30

tototoe wrote: »

The third one looks like the tower between sixmilebridge and kilmurry. No idea of the name though

You could be right - think it's known as the Castle locally, so presumably Kilmurry castle.

maryb26

Was the movie "Guns in the heather" filmed in 1969. Kurt Russell playing in goals in a hurling match in Flannans!!! If so it was mostly filmed in Kilmurry near sixmilebridge so most likely Kilmurry castle.

hugedinosaur

Yes, that is the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LRuQxrc3pg

Irish Stones

hugedinosaur wrote: »

How did you come across the old movie? What type of film is it, a professional movie available to the public, or a home movie? Are there credits or any information to say these castles are in County Clare? Is it possible they are somewhere else in Ireland?
[...]

What other places or landmarks are shown in the movie? That information might give some clues about where the castles are.

The movie is available on YouTube, the title is "Guns in the Heather" also known as "The Secret of Castle Boyne".
No credit given on the locations, but Leamanagh Castle also apperas for a few seconds about half an hour into the movie.
The only other landmark that I can see is Dunguaire Castle, but this is in county Galway and it is passed off as the Boyne Castle of the title.
Shortly after the first castle is being shown, the scene looks like they are in the Burren, Corkscrew Hill, and then the second castle is visible for a couple of seconds.

The movie is here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LRuQxrc3pg
the castle of my first two photos can be seen in the first minute of movie.


Thanks for your reply

Irish Stones

tototoe wrote: »

1 and 2 look very like craganowen before it was renovated. Very like it.

The third one looks like the tower between sixmilebridge and kilmurry. No idea of the name though

Thanks so much, the third one definitely looks like the castle on the Kilmurry to Sixmilebridge road, wonderful, you're great!
The first two photos might be Craggaunowen... though I'm not really sure...
The movie is this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LRuQxrc3pg
please, just watch the first two minutes.
Thanks!

Irish Stones

chuckles30 wrote: »

You could be right - think it's known as the Castle locally, so presumably Kilmurry castle.

I do think it is it

Irish Stones

maryb26 wrote: »

Was the movie "Guns in the heather" filmed in 1969. Kurt Russell playing in goals in a hurling match in Flannans!!! If so it was mostly filmed in Kilmurry near sixmilebridge so most likely Kilmurry castle.

Yes, that's the movie!
I noticed other landmarks like Leamanagh Castle, so I thought it was shot farther north, like Corofin and Kilfenora.


Since you are so well prepared on this matter, do you think this place is in the same area?
https://ibb.co/V3B8jWm

Yes, I have a soft spot for old ruins

Thanks!

hugedinosaur

Irish Stones wrote: »

...The first two photos might be Craggaunowen... though I'm not really sure...

Yes, that castle is Craggaunowen. It looks different now, but Tototoe's comment above mentioned that it was renovated at some stage. The castle has an "A" roof now, and there seems to be a new extension built to the side. The movie was filmed before the Crannóg was built in the lake. All the lakes shown in the aerial shots in the film match up with the geography of that area on Google Maps.
It looks like the scene was filmed from a helicopter just around the east of Craggaunowen Castle and panning around in an anticlockwise direction showing the various other lakes nearby, and then zooming in on the car passing the row of houses just east of the castle.
It looks like another castle is shown at 1m48s, but I can't see this on Google Maps, and also a tower or turret on the hill at 1m55s, and it looks like this can be seen on Google Maps, in the oval shaped field roughly ENE of Craggaunowen.

hugedinosaur

tototoe wrote: »

...
The third one looks like the tower between sixmilebridge and kilmurry. No idea of the name though

chuckles30 wrote: »

You could be right - think it's known as the Castle locally, so presumably Kilmurry castle.

Irish Stones wrote: »

I do think it is it

That one is named as Mountcashel or Ballymulcashel Castle on the Clare County Library site: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/archaeology/CL043-08502-.htm

Irish Stones

hugedinosaur wrote: »

Yes, that castle is Craggaunowen. It looks different now, but Tototoe's comment above mentioned that it was renovated at some stage. The castle has an "A" roof now, and there seems to be a new extension built to the side.

Wonderful, great info, thank you!

It looks like another castle is shown at 1m48s, but I can't see this on Google Maps, and also a tower or turret on the hill at 1m55s, and it looks like this can be seen on Google Maps, in the oval shaped field roughly ENE of Craggaunowen.

Great, I didn't see the one at 1m48s, you're good! :cool:
Yes, the other one at 1m55s (which I saw but hadn't the courage to ask for ), matches the one I see on Google Maps.
Thank you for your help!


By the way, do you live in the area? This could be the only reason you know the sites so well
Do you happen to know this one too?
https://ibb.co/V3B8jWm
Same movie, 25m15s and for a few seconds afterwards.

hugedinosaur

Irish Stones wrote: »

...
Great, I didn't see the one at 1m48s, you're good! :cool:
Yes, the other one at 1m55s (which I saw but hadn't the courage to ask for ), matches the one I see on Google Maps.
....

I don't know if that is a castle at 1m48s. It looks like there is something there in the movie, but if there is, it doesn't seem to show up on the satellite picture in that location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Craggaunowen/@52.8086543,-8.7819984,293m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x485b6c1fa31be4eb:0x842f22af8dd6bbc3!8m2!3d52.81108!4d-8.793649.

Irish Stones wrote: »

...
By the way, do you live in the area? This could be the only reason you know the sites so well...

No, I don't live in that area. I was just going by the comments of the other posters, and searching the map. But I have been at Craggaunowen many years ago on school tours.

hugedinosaur

Irish Stones wrote: »

...
Do you happen to know this one too?
https://ibb.co/V3B8jWm
Same movie, 25m15s and for a few seconds afterwards.

Sorry, I don't know where that is.
It might be a gate lodge.

Johnboy1951

Irish Stones wrote: »

Thanks so much, the third one definitely looks like the castle on the Kilmurry to Sixmilebridge road, wonderful, you're great!
The first two photos might be Craggaunowen... though I'm not really sure...
The movie is this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LRuQxrc3pg
please, just watch the first two minutes.
Thanks!

Directions to Boyne Castle

'there is only one main highway going north to Co. Mayo'

hehehehehe

hobie14

The Castle between Kilmurry and Sixmilebridge "Mountcashel" .....

I had an evening meal there many years ago .... not 200 years ago I hasten to add !

Irish Stones

Thanks guys, you're fantastic indeed!

Irish Stones

hobie14 wrote: »

The Castle between Kilmurry and Sixmilebridge "Mountcashel" .....

I had an evening meal there many years ago .... not 200 years ago I hasten to add !

Is it open to public venues? I thought it was just an abandoned ruin, like many others.

hobie14

Irish Stones wrote: »

Is it open to public venues? I thought it was just an abandoned ruin, like many others.

I'm going back 30 years ago when the O'Casey's were resident and did evening dinners for small groups ... I had a party of 7 or 8 including a U.S. visitor to our operation in Shannon ..... around 2.0 in the morning O'Casey himself announced we had finished off the last bottle of wine in the Castle ..... he suggested we finish the evening with a trip up to the Battlements to admire the view .....so off we all went to climb up through 3 or 4 floors .... at one level we were passing through a bedroom which was clearly occupied by the teenage daughter of the Castle (in bed !) , whom we had been introduced to earlier in the evening .... I remember saying to her "hello again", as you would! ......

Well the view I remember was fantastic ..... with the glow of Shannon in the distance and a misty countryside all around us ...... a perfect ending to a great evening .....:)

The O'Casey moved on and I remember seeing a for sale sign sadly on a pole in the drive ...... never heard who may have purchased it .... I would be surprised if it was derelict but that would depend how well the roof held up ..... dodgy roofs were the downfall of many a castle if not maintained ....

Kristopherus

maryb26 wrote: »

Was the movie "Guns in the heather" filmed in 1969. Kurt Russell playing in goals in a hurling match in Flannans!!! If so it was mostly filmed in Kilmurry near sixmilebridge so most likely Kilmurry castle.

Sorry for going off topic !!!

I was a student in Flannans at that time. The film crowd hired a bunch of us as extras for the duration of filming there. Iirc, the hurling match took about 3 hrs:D.

Irish Stones

hobie14 wrote: »

Well the view I remember was fantastic ..... with the glow of Shannon in the distance and a misty countryside all around us ...... a perfect ending to a great evening .....:)

What wonderful and unbeatable memories you have of that castle!

Irish Stones

Kristopherus wrote: »

Sorry for going off topic !!!

I was a student in Flannans at that time. The film crowd hired a bunch of us as extras for the duration of filming there. Iirc, the hurling match took about 3 hrs:D.

Were you hired among the extras?

Clareman

Irish Stones wrote: »

Were you hired among the extras?

A load of local lads were, I remember having a pint in Gleeson's in the Turnpike and lads telling about the day filming, great craic by all accounts.

Kristopherus

Irish Stones wrote: »

Were you hired among the extras?

Yep, and I was in the first scene at Flannans, when the car pulled in. And I cannot pick myself out:D:D:D.

Irish Stones

Kristopherus wrote: »

Yep, and I was in the first scene at Flannans, when the car pulled in. And I cannot pick myself out:D:D:D.

This one?
https://ibb.co/0Z2Db5N



By the way, the scene at the gate of Leinster School in the movie, doesn't match with the modern main gate of St. Flannan's, does it?


Another thing I noticed is that the Irish sign post to Dublin reads "Bla Claith"

hugedinosaur

Irish Stones wrote: »

This one?
https://ibb.co/0Z2Db5N

By the way, the scene at the gate of Leinster School in the movie, doesn't match with the modern main gate of St. Flannan's, does it?

Another thing I noticed is that the Irish sign post to Dublin reads "Bla Claith"

There used to be an entrance to St. Flannan's College on the Clare Road side, but it is now walled across. As far as I know, that gateway was removed and rebuilt around the corner at the College View side, and is now the current main entrance. But it is also possible that both gates were always there, until the one on Clare Road was removed. It was before my time.

BUT, on looking at that part of the movie again, I think it does not seem to match with the area (even though I know it would have become built up since then). I think that the gate is not at St. Flannan's College, and that it is probably the gateway of Dromoland Castle.

St. Flannan's College:
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.8324382,-8.9822225,3a,60y,318.57h,90.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1szN6Id_0mUfOYbwGmZo8M4Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Dromoland Castle:
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.7817635,-8.9165858,3a,60y,78.95h,70.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sp9xiw6V5GPQ-8ODCAm_YWQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

hugedinosaur

The bus stop scene here https://youtu.be/3LRuQxrc3pg?t=1804 was at The Square in Kilfenora.

The building at 30min 50sec is the old Kilfenora National School which was later demolished,
and the Burren Centre is on that site now (http://www.theburrencentre.ie/).

Clareman

Irish Stones wrote: »

This one?
https://ibb.co/0Z2Db5N



By the way, the scene at the gate of Leinster School in the movie, doesn't match with the modern main gate of St. Flannan's, does it?


Another thing I noticed is that the Irish sign post to Dublin reads "Bla Claith"

The entrance to Flannan's used to be on the roundabout, it's hard to picture it now but I don't think there was even a roundabout there when the entrance was there, that was changed in the late 80s I think.

Irish Stones

hugedinosaur wrote: »

BUT, on looking at that part of the movie again, I think it does not seem to match with the area (even though I know it would have become built up since then). I think that the gate is not at St. Flannan's College, and that it is probably the gateway of Dromoland Castle.

St. Flannan's College:
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.8324382,-8.9822225,3a,60y,318.57h,90.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1szN6Id_0mUfOYbwGmZo8M4Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Dromoland Castle:
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.7817635,-8.9165858,3a,60y,78.95h,70.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sp9xiw6V5GPQ-8ODCAm_YWQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

You're spot on!
The gate posts and the railings look quite the same, but they at two different locations.
I wonder what the need was to shoot two close scenes at two far apart locations.

Thanks for your contribution!

EDIT: In the movie the cars approaches from a road next to the first gate post, a road that doesn't exist on the maps.

hugedinosaur

Irish Stones wrote: »

. . .
: In the movie the cars approaches from a road next to the first gate post, a road that doesn't exist on the maps.

What point is this at? Can you give a still image or a minutes and seconds point?

Irish Stones

hugedinosaur wrote: »

What point is this at? Can you give a still image or a minutes and seconds point?

Yes, of course, at minute 4:00.
The car approaches from a road that previously in the movie was the one with Mountcashel Castle, stops at the gate post with the name "Leinster School" and then drives on to the school.
That road isn't on Google Maps near Dromoland Castle's gates, that, in turn, look very much like the gate posts in the movie.

Johnboy1951

Irish Stones wrote: »

Yes, of course, at minute 4:00.
The car approaches from a road that previously in the movie was the one with Mountcashel Castle, stops at the gate post with the name "Leinster School" and then drives on to the school.
That road isn't on Google Maps near Dromoland Castle's gates, that, in turn, look very much like the gate posts in the movie.

It looks like the gates to Dromoland on the Newmarket Road before the road was widened .....

hugedinosaur

Irish Stones wrote: »

Yes, of course, at minute 4:00.
The car approaches from a road that previously in the movie was the one with Mountcashel Castle, stops at the gate post with the name "Leinster School" and then drives on to the school.
That road isn't on Google Maps near Dromoland Castle's gates, that, in turn, look very much like the gate posts in the movie.

Yes, that is the road at Dromoland alright. Like Johnboy1951 said, it has been widened since then. Also, the outside pier in that image around the 4 minute mark has been lowered. You can see what remains of that pier as it is now, just beside the Dromoland Castle Hotel sign.
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.7817635,-8.9165858,3a,67y,127.77h,82.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sp9xiw6V5GPQ-8ODCAm_YWQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Irish Stones

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

It looks like the gates to Dromoland on the Newmarket Road before the road was widened .....

Yes, you're right, I thought about this about an hour later. It wasn't a road from a side, it was the same road before it was widened. My fault, sorry!

Clareman

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

It looks like the gates to Dromoland on the Newmarket Road before the road was widened .....

https://i.ibb.co/fNhXF2b/film-gate1.png

I would say that is almost definitely Dromoland but it might also be 1 of the entrances to Carrigoran, there used to be 2 entrances, 1 each side of Newmarket, that might be the 1 on the Ennis side

Johnboy1951

Clareman wrote: »

I would say that is almost definitely Dromoland but it might also be 1 of the entrances to Carrigoran, there used to be 2 entrances, 1 each side of Newmarket, that might be the 1 on the Ennis side

Did the road rise up as in that pic at the entrance you are thinking of?

I do not recall that entrance.

Hedgelayer

The first picture in the op post is definitely Cragganowen

One of the other places is Dromoland castle.

And possibly the other is one of the tower's on the O Garney river near Sixmilebridge or Cratloe..

Irish Stones

Hedgelayer wrote: »

The first picture in the op post is definitely Cragganowen

One of the other places is Dromoland castle.

And possibly the other is one of the tower's on the O Garney river near Sixmilebridge or Cratloe..

Thanks, I do appreciate all of your contributions!