House - 17th century

The National Monuments Service's description

Located within Mohill town, on the E bank of a N-S stream that runs into Lough Rinn c. 2.5km to the S at the nearest point. Henry Crofton (d. 1643) had been accumulating land in south Leitrim from the 1610s, including the land of the Augustinian priory (LE032-068001-) that he acquired from Thomas Ashe. He received a grant of 600 acres in 1621 with the rectory of Mohill and consolidated his holding as the manor of Mohill (MacCuarta 2001, 314, fn 36). He was one of only four English or Scottish undertakers to have taken up residence in Leitrim by 1622 (MacCuarta 1999, 130-1). Other branches of the Crofton family were based at the Mote, Co. Roscommon, and in Co. Longford. Sir Morgan Crofton (1733-1802) became the first Baron of Mohill in 1802.
Only part of a bawn wall (L 46m) extending NE from the base of a circular corner-tower (ext. diam. 5m; H 3.3m) remain of what was a 17th-century house and bawn. An 18th-century five-bay, two-storey building, owned by the Crofton family (Turley 1944, file no. 146) had become a police station by 1837, but the family had moved to Clooncahir just outside the town by then (Lewis 1837, vol. 2, 376). The castle later became a school, but the tower of the bawn was reduced to its present height only in 1977 (Oates 1977). Archaeological testing (98E0201) on the other side of the stream, c. 60m NW of the surviving tower produced no related material (Halpin 2000), and further testing (07E0110) on Castle Street had the same result (Moore 2009). Quernstones from a nearby crannog (LE035-009001-) were kept here (Kane 1886), but their present whereabouts is not known.
Archaeological testing (19E0054) on the site of an extension to the library on Castle St. identified the base of another circular tower (ext. diam. c. 5m) from the bawn which is c. 25m NW of the surviving tower. It was excavated under the same licence and is only one course high. An excavated NW-SE wall SE of the tower is from a later structure and is likely to be from the large post-medieval house depicted on the 1835 edition of the OS 6-inch map. From the excavated tower the bawn wall is likely to have run N, following the line of Crooked Lane before turning SE to the site of the original house. The bawn would therefore have been a polygonal area (dims c. 75m NW-SE; c. 30-60m NE-SW). The remains of the excavated tower are preserved beneath the pavement outside the library. (Hull 2019; excavations.ie: 2019:590)

See the attached view from the Down Survey parish map (N at right) reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (Ms 717).

The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim' compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 23 September 2008
Amended: 6 December, 2019; 28 October 2020

References

Lewis, S. 1837 A topographical dictionary of Ireland, 2 vols. London. Lewis and Co.

Mac Cuarta, B. (ed.) 1999 Leitrim Plantation papers. 1620-1622. Journal of Cumann Seanchas Breifne (Breifne Historical Society) 9, no. 35, 114-39.

Mac Cuarta, B. 2001 The plantation of Leitrim 1620-41. Irish Historical Studies 32, no. 127, 297-320.

Kane, W.F. de Vismes 1885-6 Notes on crannogs in Leitrim. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 17, 407-9.

Turley, P.V. 1944 Ballinamore Library Files. Unpublished notes.

Oates, M. 1977 Castle Hassle! Leitrim Observer, 08/10/1977

Halpin, E. 2000 Water Street, Mohill. Urban. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1998. Summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 126, No. 373. Bray, Wordwell

Moore, D. 2010 Castle Street, Mohill. No archaeological significance. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2007: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 287, No. 1085. Dublin, Wordwell

Hull, G. 2019 Preliminary archaeological excavation report. Mohill Library, Castle Street, Mohill, Co. Leitrim. Licence No. 19E0054. Unpublished report, TVAS (Ireland)