Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

On level ground close to the NE foot of the Slieve Aughty Mountains. In existence in 1574 when it was in the possession of 'Mac Hubert' (Nolan 1901, 112). This tower house is an example of one of Galway’s two-phase tower houses, whereby the block built in the 1st phase of construction contained the main entrance doorway, which accessed a small lobby off which further doorways generally led to a guardroom and spiral stairs on either side of the doorway and the main-ground floor chamber opposite it. The overhead floors would have contained a single chamber accessed off the spiral stairs. A larger block containing the main rooms would have been added during the 2nd phase of construction. Only the 1st-phase construction block survives in this case and it is unclear if the 2nd-phase block was ever constructed. The tower was described in a survey in 1944 as being in a ‘ruinous state of preservation … about 40’ [c. 12m] high x 30’ [c. 9.1m] x 15’ [c. 4.5m]’ (Topgr. Files, NMI). The doorway, in the NW wall, was defaced and there were a number of breaches in the walls. The stairs were fairly well preserved but otherwise the interior was in ruins. Surviving windows comprised four square-headed and one round-headed lancets, four loops and two-ogee headed lights. A base-batter was evident on the SW, NW and NE walls but the SE wall was perpendicular (ibid.), indicating that following the second phase of construction it would become an internal wall. In the mid-1970s the tower block underwent repair and reconstruction, initially as a family home. The restoration work included the insertion of a number of new windows and the complete reconstruction of the roof and parapets. A marked change in the masonry above the third floor suggests that all the walls above this level have also been reconstructed. A modern bawn wall (GA114-056001-) surrounds the tower, complete with an arched gateway opposite doorway and circular turret at the NW corner. Further work in the 1990s developed the tower into a wedding venue complete with banqueting room. There is an interesting (but undated) black and white photograph of it on its web site that shows it prior to any of the reconstruction work (see www.cloghauncastle.ie last accessed 17 September 2021). The image portrays the E wall – the breach on the ground floor, opposite the entrance doorway in the W wall, and those on the first and second floors would have accommodated the doorways that connected the two blocks. A number of protruding stones on the NE and SE corners would have knitted into the 2nd block. (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 44; Fahey 1893, 246)

Compiled by: Olive Alcock

Date of upload: 24 September 2021

References

Fahey, J.A. 1893 (Reprint 1986) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Kilmacduagh. Galway. Kenny Gallery.

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

Topographical Files, National Museum of Ireland. Dublin.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1927 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Galway collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Typescript in 3 vols. Bray.

www.cloghauncastle.ie last accessed 17 September 2021