Bawn

The National Monuments Service's description

On the fairly flat floor of the Nore river valley, on a slight terrace c. 1m above the flood plain and c. 40m W of the River Nore. According to O’Kelly (1969, 12) this property was owned by the Grace family. The castle (KK009-002001-) and house (KK009-002002-) which stood in the middle of the large bawn are no longer visible at ground level. An antiquarian sketch, viewed from the SE, shows the SE angle of the bawn with a round-arched entrance gate towards the S end of the E wall and though the top of the wall is ragged there is a suggestion of crenelation (Lightbrown 1985, 168). The bawn is roughly rectangular, tapering towards the S (dims. 172m N-S on E side; 184m NNW-SSE on W side; 77m E-W on N side; 60m E-W on S side) and constructed of roughly coursed masonry. Much of the wall (T c. 0.65m) survives to a height of c. 2m, especially in the SE portion. There are gates in E, S, and W walls. The E gate connects to what was once a walled passage to a bridge (KK009-002006-) over the River Nore. In the SE angle the walls of the bawn appear to have incorporated a building which was defended at ground-floor level by a series of square musket loops. There are no other loops visible in the rests of the bawn.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 21 June 2016

References

O'Kelly, O. 1969 (Reissue 1985) The place-names of County Kilkenny. Kilkenny.

Lightbrown, R. W. 1985 Some eighteenth and early nineteenth century visitors to Killkenny. (Part two). Old Kilkenny Review 3 (2), 161-73.