Castle - hall-house

The National Monuments Service's description

Part of the monastic complex at Kilmacduagh and situated 100m to the NNE of the cathedral (GA128-034004-). This edifice, now a National Monument, has been variously interpreted as a 'seminary' and/or the residence of the abbot or bishop (Fahey 1904, 230; Harbison 1975, 95). The original building was a rectangular two-storey hall-house (16.2m E-W; 6.7m N-S), aligned roughly E-W, that was accessed via a doorway at 1st-floor level in the S wall. It most likely dates to the 13th century but a number of major alterations are evident, most recently the restoration which involved re-roofing the E half of the building with a gabled roof and crenellated parapet. Only the E jamb of the original doorway survives. Below and slightly to the E of it is a beam slot which probably supported the external wooden staircase. The ground-floor chamber appears to have been originally roofed with wooden beams, the slots for which survive internally at the W end. It was lit by narrow slit windows, set in wide embrasures, in contrast to the original 1st floor which was lit by a number of two-light cusped and pointed-arch windows. The ground and 1st-floor chambers are now subdivided by an internal wall. This is possibly part of a late medieval re-edification which saw the E part rebuilt as a three-storey tower house-like building. The entrance to this is via a pointed-arch doorway at ground-floor level at the E end of the S wall. Fahey (1904, 230) noted 'an oriel [window], looking north-east … on the upper floor'; all that now survives is a large ope in the W wall. There were two rectangular projections on the N and S walls close to the NE and SW corners, respectively. That on the SW corner survives only as a foundation line (5m E-W; 3.4m N-S). (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 162)

Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG

Date of upload: 24 October 2016

This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 3/2009).
The monument was taken into Ownership under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 - National Monument 51.

References

Fahey, J. 1904 Kilmacduagh and its ecclesiastical monuments. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 34, 220-33.

Harbison, P. 1975 (2nd. ed. 1992 reprint) Guide to the national monuments in the Republic of Ireland. Gill and Macmillan, 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.