Bawn

The National Monuments Service's description

On a low hill with good views from S-WNW and to the E. Clomantagh Castle (KK013-002001-), a 16th-century tower house, is located in the SE portion of the bawn. The medieval church (KK013-003001-) of Clonmantagh is located c. 120m to the S and there is a ringfort (KK013-001----) c. 230m to the NW. Another tower house (KK013-033001-), Tubbrid Castle, is located c. 1.5km to the SSE. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 368) the tower house was owned by Pierce Ruadh (d. 1539), Earl of Ormond and was inherited by his son Richard Butler, first Lord Mountgarret. It was subsequently granted to Lt. Arthur St George after Richard, third Lord Mountgarret, forfeited his lands during the Cromwellian regime (ibid.).
The bawn (ext. dims. c. 68m N-S; 62m E-W), roughly trapezoidal in plan, is substantially intact and much of it is constructed of roughly coursed limestone rubble (wall H 2.5-3.2m; T 1.26m. However, well-coursed dressed limestone blocks have also been employed, particularly for features such as the stair to the wall-walk in the E wall. There is also a stair to the wall-walk in the N wall. There is a substantial base-batter (H c. 2m; T 0.33m).
The entrance (Wth 3m) into the bawn was near the N end of the W wall, it has been broken out and repaired, but the arch is missing. Some 25m N of the S end of the N wall there is a slight bend with dressed stones. At the NW angle there is a small two-storey circular angle tower (int. diam. 1.75m) with a domed roof of dressed stone. It has a doorway at ground level and one at first-floor level giving access to the wall-walk. It is defended by stirrup gun-loops with cross-slits. Roughly square holes have been created in the W wall and a large circular hole at the apex of the dome indicate that the tower was reused as a dovecote at some stage. A series of bee-boles inserted in the inner face of the E end of the N wall of the bawn may be contemporary with the reuse of the angle tower as a dovecote.
All the gun-loops in the bawn are cut from dressed limestone blocks and are either simple flat-headed, key-hole or stirrup-loops, some with cross-slits. The wall-walk with stair access survives on the E wall. At the W end of the N wall there are three relieving arches, presumably because of soft ground at this point. The interior of the bawn is occupied by an orchard in the NE sector and by 19th- and 20th-century farm buildings and hay barns in the NW and W running roughly E-W up to the W wall of the bawn. Archaeological investigations in 1999 revealed a ditch feature (Wth 3.8m; D c. 1.5m), immediately outside the E wall of the bawn, which was interpreted as a possible infilled moat (Delany 2000, 140).

See attached photographs:
KK013-002002-_01 Exterior E and N wall of bawn, from NE
KK013-002002-_02 Exterior cross-loop with stirrup base facing NW in circular turret at NW angle with tower house in background
KK013-002002-_03 Exterior cross-loop with stirrup base facing NW in circular turret at NW angle
KK013-002002-_03 Exterior stirrup-loop in N wall of bawn
KK013-002002-_05 Exterior stirrup-loop in W wall of bawn
KK013-002002-_06 Exterior broken-out entrance towards the N end of the W wall
KK013-002002-_07 Interior N wall of bawn
KK013-002002-_08 Interior E wall of bawn – stairs to wall-walk
KK013-002002-_09 Interior gun-loop embrasures in E wall of bawn
KK013-002002-_10 Interior SW angle of bawn with NW angle of tower house (KK013-002001-) in foreground and well (KK013-002004-) in mid-ground, from N

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 22 July 2019

References

Delany, D. 2000 Clonmantagh Castle, Clonmantagh Lower: settlement. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1999: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland. Bray, 140-41. Wordwell.

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