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In the Heritage Ireland museum group

  1. 896

    cloughoughter.jpg
    500 x 600 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging; three 'daisy' flowerheads, top centre and in each shoulder; central plume of six ostrich feathers issuing from what appears to be a wreath surmounting a tree stump.

    Notes: Excavated from the ruins of Cloughoughter Castle in County Cavan, which had been rendered uninhabitable in a siege of 1653. Until the early 16th century the castle had been in the hands of the O'Reilly family. On some versions of the O'Reilly arms the crest is shown as a plume of ostrich feathers, although this may be a misrepresentation of the usual crest of a tree with a snake entwined about it.

    Manufactured: in the early 17th century in Ireland.

    Current location: Parke's Castle, Fivemile Bourne, Co. Leitrim, Ireland.

    (part of the Heritage Ireland museum group)