Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Castle - tower house
Castlequarter (kiltartan By.), County Galway, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Castlequarter (kiltartan By.)
- County
- Galway
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Newtown Castle (in ruins)
- Latest-edition OS map
- Newtown Castle (in Ruins)
- Coordinates
- 53.06535, -8.86139
- SMR number
- GA122-043----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
In rolling farmland, liable to flooding. In existence in 1574 when it was occupied by Derby O'Shaghnes (Nolan 1901, 114). This fairly well-preserved three-storey high tower house is circular in plan (D c. 13.5m). A gentle base-batter is evident and the walls are rendered. Access is gained through a double doorway facing ENE. The outer doorway is framed with a round-headed arch, while the inner one is pointed. Vertical grooves on either side of the latter indicate that it was formerly protected by a portcullis. This doorway opens into a small lobby off which there are three further doorways. That to the N leads to the guardroom, which is lit by an arrow-loop on the E side; there is a fireplace at its N end. The doorway to the S leads to a rubble-strewn intramural stairway and the spiral staircase. That to the W opens into the main room, which is subrectangular in plan. It is lit by splayed arrow-loops set in deep embrasures at SSE, WSW and NNW. Corbels indicate that the 1st floor was wooden, while there is a vault between the 1st and 2nd floors. One room occupies the 1st floor from where the portcullis would have been raised and lowered. Off the main room on the 2nd floor an opening to the S probably accessed a garderobe; a blocked-up exit chute is visible externally. There is also a small room off it to the NE that would have accessed the machicolation over the doorway. All that survives of it are the corbels that supported it. Windows in the main rooms on the upper floors consist of ogee-headed single lights with recessed spandrels; one on the 2nd floor bears a hood-moulding which bends outwards and tapers on each side, finishing with a carved interlace ornament in relief. Arrow-loops light the spiral stairs. A short stretch of the bawn wall (GA122-043001-) extends off it to the E.
Compiled by: Olive Alcock
Date of upload: 14 September 2021
References
Nolan, J.P. 1901a Galway castles and owners in 1574. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 1, 109-23.
Nearby in the register
- Bawnunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - unclassifiedunder 1 mi
- Churchunder 1 mi
- Graveyardunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.