Loughmore

History

Loughmoe Castle was the seat of the Purcell family, who were Barons of Loughmoe. Construction of the castle began in 1328, the year that the family were granted the title of Barons of Loughmoe. Until the 1980s it was possible to climb the spiral stair in the right-hand tower. The monument is now in the care of the Office of Public Works. The title Baron of Loughmoe is an Irish feudal barony, and was possibly raised to a Jacobite peerage in 1690 while King James II of England was in exile. The feudal title was first granted to Richard Purcell in 1328 by James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond as palatine Lord of Tipperary. Irish and Scottish feudal titles, particularly those granted by palatine lords, are acknowledged as genuine hereditaments by the arms granting bodies of Ireland, Scotland, and England, but were never formally recognised by the British Crown. Referring to the Purcells of Loughmoe specifically, the medieval Irish genealogist Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh wrote that Purcell genealogy begins with Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1858 in Loughmore, two local men, Daniel and William Cormack, were executed for the murder of John Ellis, a land agent from Kilrush, near Templemore, County Tipperary. Ellis was hated for evicting tenants on behalf of the landlords who employed him. One night as he returned along the lane to his isolated home, his way was blocked by uprooted bushes and branches. He was shot by a hidden assailant and died an hour later. The police had no doubt that this was a political murder, because £90 in Ellis’s wallet was left untouched. The brothers William and Daniel Cormack were arrested and convicted at Nenagh Assizes in March 1858, largely, it was felt at the time, on the evidence of an informer – "a villainous character" – who…

Geography

Loughmore is on the banks of the River Suir some 5.5 km south of Templemore, 10 km north of Thurles and a kilometre east of the main N62 road between those towns. Castleiney is some 5 km away and closer to Templemore. The parish is in the Golden Vale, one of the richest agricultural areas in Europe. Dairy farming and cattle raising are the principal occupations.

Most-observed species

• Rook

  Corvus frugilegus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  174
• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  129
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  127
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  124
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  117
• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  113
• Eurasian Wren

  Troglodytes troglodytes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  112
• Hooded Crow

  Corvus cornix Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  103