Bawn

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture on the N bank of the river Fergus at the bottom of a S-facing slope of an E-W ridge on which Killinaboy church (CL017-020----) can be seen c. 400m to NE. Drawn and labelled as ‘De Clare’s house (in ruins)’ on the first edition (1842) of the OS 6-inch map, and as ‘Ruin’ on the OS 25-inch plan (1897) and the Cassini edition (1920) of the OS 6-inch map. The OS Letters of 1839 (Comber 1997, 17) recorded a tradition (uncorroborated) that this was the home of the Norman lord Richard de Clare before his death in 1318, and was called Cobhail an Chlaraigh Mhuair [‘the great De Clare’s ruins’]. However, MacMahon (1992) and Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997) suggest it was the residence of the 17th-century protestant deans of Kilfenora (see also Westropp 1900, 409). 

 

This well-preserved rectangular bawn (int. dims. 30.9m WNW-ESE; 25m NNE-SSW) of probable late-16th/17th-century date is defined by substantial walls of limestone rubble (H c. 3-4m; Wth c. 1.5m) with a base batter (Ua Cróinín and Breen, 1997). The walls survive almost to original height but are mostly covered in ivy, especially on their outer faces. A late-16th/17th-century house (CL017-056002-) appears to be integrated into the NW corner of the bawn. The bawn entrance, to W of centre in the N wall, is pointed-arched with wickerwork centering. On the W side of the entrance, a wall extends S into the bawn interior but disturbance has removed any evidence of a corresponding wall on the E side of the entrance. Just to the E of the entrance, the bawn wall’s inner face steps-in (L 2m). There is a second entrance doorway (Wth 1.05m; H 2.3m), badly damaged but retaining evidence of a lintel, near the W end of the S wall with a bar-slot on its E side, and two walls project N into the bawn interior on the E and and W sides this S doorway: the W wall (Wth 0.75m) may be the remains of a possible chamber in the SW corner of the bawn. The E wall opposite is largely removed but is bonded to the bawn wall.

 

At the N end of the bawn’s E wall, the inner face steps in (L 0.8m) to accommodate a small chamber within the wall (int. dims. 2.05m N-S; 1.1m E-W), the interior of which is full of debris. The chamber was lit by a narrow loop in a flat-arched, splayed embrasure with wickerwork centering in the E wall. Ua Cróinín and Breen (1997) recorded a circular staircase at the N end of the chamber.

 

 At the SE corner of the bawn is a projecting rectangular tower (int. dims. 2.5m N-S; 1.25m E-W; H 2.95m) and a recessed parapet (H 1m). The tower is barrel-vaulted and there are simple lights with dressed stone surrounds in its E wall (Wth 0.55m) and W wall. The SE tower does not seem to have had a doorway and was accessed from within the bawn through a passageway (Wth 2.3m) formed, in part, on its E side by a stepping in of the bawn wall, and on its W side by the E wall (Wth 1.2m) of a rectangular building (int. dim. 5.8m N-S) built against the S wall of the bawn. While the foundations of this building’s N sidewall (Wth 0.6m) can be seen, its W end-wall is not traceable, but the building appears to have extended along most of the bawn’s S wall, on the inner face of which at least three corbels which supported the roof of this structure survive. A mound of material within the footprint of this building has formed a platform abutting the bawn wall. In the SW corner of the bawn is a possible chamber (int. dims. 6.05m E-W; 2.5m N-S), although there is no evidence of a N wall and its E wall (Wth 0.75m) is not bonded to the bawn wall. 

 

A mound of rubble forms a rectangular platform (L 13m N-S) against the inner face of the bawn’s W wall. At its N end, the base of a wall (Wth 0.9m) is visible which may be the S wall of the late-16th/17th-century house (CL017-056002-) in the NW corner of the bawn. Near the opposite, S end of the platform is a gun loop in a squared embrasure. 

 

Externally, a drystone wall runs parallel with the bawn’s W wall at a distance of c. 10m away and joins an overgrown lane (Wth c. 3-4m) running NNE (L c. 170m) and defined on its W side by a drystone wall (H c. 1.2m), which may be contemporaneous with the bawn.

 

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott 

 

Date of upload: 9-10-2025

References

Westropp, T.J. 1900 Excursions of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Summer meeting, 1900. Description of the places visited. Section III. Third excursion; Section IV. Fourth Excursion. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 10, 392-419; 420-26.

Ua Cróinín, R. and Breen, M. 1997 The castles and tower-houses of Co. Clare, 6 vols. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin. Comber, M. (ed.) 1997 The antiquities of County Clare: John O’Donovan and Eugene Curry: Ordnance Survey Letters 1839. Clasp Press. Ennis.
MacMahon, M. 1992 Notes on the Blood family of Corofin. The Other Clare 16, 49-52.
Spellissy, S. 1986 Kilnaboy's forgotten fort. The Cabhail Mór. The Other Clare 10, 47.