Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Depicted on an 1853 sketch of an original ‘Plan of the Castle of Ballyshannon, with its Outworks, in 1650’, where it is shown under attack during the Confederate War (1641-53)(Fitzgerald 1899-1902, 447). The plan shows a substantial Fitzgerald castle, consisting of a large double-gabled building, of apparently three stories plus attic, with crenelations on the N facade, and a rectangular tower, also crenelated, projecting from the centre of the N wall, together with a tall circular turret projecting from the SW angle overlooking one of the two entrances. The castle stood in the NE corner of a well-defended square bawn with a crenelated wall and towers at the NW and SE angles. A second entrance, with a drawbridge/causeway, is shown mid-way along the N wall. A bastioned fort (KD032-003001-) encloses the castle and bawn, as well as a motte (KD028-058001-) and church (KD028-058002-) nearby, to the N. No visible surface traces survive.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 21 May 2013

References

FitzGerald, Lord W. 1899-1902 The FitzGeralds of Ballyshannon (Co. Kildare), and their successors thereat. Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society 3, 425-52.