Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

On a low hill in undulating grassland. In existence in 1574 when 'Garrandaragh' castle was in the possession of 'Vllig Lynch' (Nolan 1901b, 122). According to OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 257), this castle is also known as 'the castle of Rye hill'. It consists of a rectangular tower (L 11m, Wth 8.8m), in fair condition, which was at least four storeys in height. The robbed-out doorway, at S end of E wall, opens into a small lobby with a murder-hole above. This lobby gives access to the ground-floor chamber and to the spiral stairs (broken above 1st floor) in NE corner. There is a stone vault between 1st/2nd floors. A fireplace survives in S wall on 1st floor and a garderobe exit chute is visible near W end of N wall. The 3rd floor is inaccessible: apart from an intramural passage visible at SE corner, its layout is unknown. No trace of the parapets or roof appear to survive. The surviving windows comprise narrow rectangular slits and single lights, the latter having flat and ogee-shaped heads. The 1st ed. of OS 6-inch map shows a roughly square bawn around the castle with two small circular turrets at SE and SW corners. Traces of the bawn (L/Wth c. 18m) are still visible to E, S and SW of the castle; it is defined by a low bank of earth and stone. No trace of the turrets was noted.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999).

Date of upload: 05 August 2010