Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

On limestone outcrop on the S bank of the River Goul, with a fording pointing (KK012-001003-) immediately N-NE of the castle and bawn (KK012-001007-). The tower house is situated within the NE sector of the bawn. The medieval church (KK012-001002-) and graveyard (KK012-001009-) of Urlingford are located to the N, on the opposite bank of the river. There are settlement earthworks (KK012-001001-) surrounding both the tower house and bawn and the church and graveyard. The modern town of Urlingford is c. 400m to the S. The Down Survey parish map of Urlingford (1655-6) depicts a castle and in the accompanying terrier, ‘Lord Mountgarrett, Ir[ish] pa[pist]’ is listed as the proprietor in 1640. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 364-5), in ‘the middle of the 17th century it was occupied by Captain Edward Butler (son of Richard, third Viscount Mountgarret, and grandson of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone), who was executed by the Cromwellians, in 1653’.
A five storey tower house (ext. dims. 6.15m E-W; 5.1m surviving N-S; wall thickness excluding base-batter - S wall T 1.4m; E and W wall 1.2m, of which 0.5m is inner face supporting the vault) constructed of roughly coursed limestone rubble, with a base-batter (H c. 3m; Wth 0.3m) up to first-floor level. There is a barrel vault over the first floor. The external E face and E portion of the S external face and the internal faces are heavily overgrown with ivy. It is described in the OS Letters (1839) as a ‘square tower’, which has, ‘three narrow pointed windows in the north side, three in the south and two in the west’ (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 1 (107)). By 1905 (photograph in Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 364-5) the northern portion had collapsed. The N wall and the N end of the E and W walls do not survive. At ground-floor level there is a broken-out embrasure in the S wall and a wall-cupboard in the W wall. At first-floor level there is a modified embrasure in the S wall, but the window is broken out. Above the vault at second-floor level the S jamb of a window survives in the E wall. At third-floor level there is a single-light window in the S wall, slightly obscured by ivy but possibly ogee headed. The S side of a large window embrasure survives in the W wall and the chamfered jamb of a window in the E wall. There appears to be a wall cupboard, ivy covered, in the W wall, S of the window. There was a wooden floor between the third and fourth floor, only one corbel support for which is visible in the W wall. At fourth-floor level only the chamfered jamb of a window in the E wall and of a window in the S wall survives, as well as the jamb of a window in the W wall. There are traces of internal plaster throughout, though particularly on the floors below the vault.

See attached photographs:
KK012-001006-_01External S and E faces
KK012-001006-_02 External E face – resting on rock outcrop
KK012-001006-_03 External W face from NW
KK012-001006-_04 Ground floor – S face
KK012-001006-_05 Ground floor – W face
KK012-001006-_06 Detail of first-floor window, S wall – interior

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 23 August 2022

References

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Kilkenny collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Bray.