Ballyheigue Castle

From 1890, parts of the site were used a Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) station. On the 1 December 1912, a hay shed at the Castle was set on fire; the following day, two further hay sheds were similarly destroyed, burning 200 tons of hay. James Crosbie made a claim for £1000 damages. From 1916 through to 1920, Crosbie auctioned the demesne lands of the estate to local people and also sold the Castle to Jeremiah Leen, ending the Crosbie connexion with Ballyheigue. In early 1921, the building was vacant. Later, a Mr. R. Palmer and Mrs. Erskine were resident in the castle for a few weeks. Erskine was involved in some Castle-related transaction with Palmer, a proprietor of local creameries. He planned to live in England and informed Michael Pierce, captain of the Ballyheigue Company of the Irish Volunteers, that the building was to be occupied by the British military. Pierce informed his battalion OC. In March 1921, the building was occupied by elements of the Royal Irish Constabulary. Following a sweep across north Kerry from the coast as far as Kilflynn to find IRA members, hundreds of men were detained in outbuildings on the site. On 25 May 1921, an auction of the buildings' contents was held at the castle. On 27 May, it was attacked and burned by local Irish Volunteers. In October the same year, Palmer was awarded £127 compensation by a Tralee court for furniture lost in the blaze. On 14 June 1923, Leen won a case in the King's Bench Division against Lloyd's of London underwriters who argued that he'd neglected to inform them that Crown forces had occupied the site and Sinn Fein members were interned there; he was awarded £9,500 and costs. During the proceedings, Thomas Clifford, a draper's assistant and IRA officer, admitted starting the blaze with petrol on floorboards after being ordered to destroy the castle.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]