Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

In pastureland. This four-storey high rectangular tower house (10.35m E-W; 8.35m N-S) was in the possession of Walter Dolphin in 1574 (Neary 1901, 121). Built on a plinth, it is constructed of regularly coursed limestone. A gentle base-batter rises to 1st-floor level. On inspection in July 1983, access was gained through a pointed arch doorway, towards the S end of the E wall, which opened into a lobby with an overhead murder-hole. A doorway directly opposite led to the main ground-floor chamber, which was lit by three rectangular loops set into deep embrasures. The embrasure in the W wall had been broken through forming another entrance feature but when Cody (1989, 373) inspected the castle, this had been repaired. Wall presses were visible at the N end of the E wall and the S end of the W wall. Another doorway off the N side of the lobby led to an intramural flight of stairs from which the spiral staircase rose at 1st-floor level and originally continued to the top of the 3rd floor. The 1st and 2nd floors comprised a subsidiary chamber above the doorway with the main chamber to its W. There were vaults over both chambers between the 2nd/3rd floors. Joist holes, sockets and corbels indicated the positions of the lower 1st and 2nd wooden floors. Further wall presses were visible at the N and S ends of the W wall on the 1st and 3rd floors and also at the S end of the E wall on the 3rd floor. An intramural passage in the N wall, at 2nd-floor level, led to a garderobe in the W wall; its exit chute was visible externally towards the base of the W wall. Fireplaces were visible in the S wall on the 1st floor and in the E and W gable walls. Cody (ibid., 375) noted that both fireplaces in the gables had been inserted into blocked up rectangular windows. It was unclear how access was gained to the main chamber on the 2nd floor as there was no indication that it was accessed off the spiral stairs or from the subsidiary chamber. Cody (ibid., 374) suggested that it may have been accessed from an internal stairs or by a ladder from the chamber below. Cody (ibid., 375) further noted that on the 3rd floor the spiral stairs, which originally continued to the wall-walk, was subsequently blocked up in the past. A short linear stairs was then built against the N wall and it accessed the wall-walk through the cap house at its NE corner. The following inscriptions were noted on the springing stones of the arch of the doorway where the spiral stairs terminated in the E wall: on the N side – ‘M. Grady/A.D./1822’ and on the S side – ‘J. Doyle/A.D./1821’. Windows above the ground floor comprised rectangular slits, angle loops, single and double transom and mullioned ogee-headed windows. The spandrels of the ogee heads in the N and S walls on the 3rd floor were decorated: a carved human head and foliage were visible in the S one, while there appeared to be foliage on the N one. Since inspection, this tower house has been completely restored and renovated as a private residence.

The following images have been uploaded:
GA096-141----83.jpg View from SE
GA096-141----86.jpg View from NE

Compiled by: Olive Alcock

Date of upload: 1 August 2023

References

Cody, E. 1989 An archaeological survey of the barony of Athenry, Co. Galway. Unpublished MA thesis, University College Galway.

Nolan, J.P. 1901a Galway castles and owners in 1574. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 1, 109-23.