Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Castle - unclassified
Castledillon Lower, County Kildare, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Castledillon Lower
- County
- Kildare
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Castle
- Latest-edition OS map
- Castle (in Ruins)
- Coordinates
- 53.30913, -6.58981
- SMR number
- KD014-015----
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 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
According to the OSL (Herity 2002, 12 (35)), ' … there is a portion of a building, called 'Castle' by the people, as yet observable …' and the 1st ed. (1838) of the OS 6-inch map shows a rectangular structure (dims. L c. 20m NW-SE; Wth c. 12m) standing in a narrow clearing in woodland. OMURETHI (1909-11, 206) records that, ' Of the Rochford Castle at Castledillon, one small fragment alone remains: it consist of one ivy-clad angle of the building with a projecting external chimney running up the wall from a fireplace on the first floor …'. No visible surface traces of the monument survive and a cattle pen and crush stand on the site, with a farmyard and sheds immediately to the N. In 2001, archaeological monitoring (Licence No. 01E0716) of ground works associated with a single residential development c. 70m to the NE revealed no in situ features or deposits of archaeological potential, however, pottery sherds of both medieval and post-medieval date were recovered from a layer of fill apparently introduced to the site, at some unknown time in the past, in order to fill a natural hollow. The monitoring archaeologist, M. E. Byrne, commented, 'While it is tempting to speculate that this fill material may have come from the adjacent castle site, this cannot be proven. (www.excavations.ie)
Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy
Date of upload: 10 June 2011
References
Herity, M. (ed.) 2002 Ordnance Survey Letters Kildare. Dublin. Four Masters Press.
Omurethi 1909-11 Castledillon in the barony of South Salt. Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society 6, 206-213.
Nearby in the register
- Graveyardunder 1 mi
- Tomb - effigialunder 1 mi
- Ecclesiastical siteunder 1 mi
- Ecclesiastical enclosureunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.