Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Illustrated by Wright (1758, bk II, pl. XIV) as complete with rectangular corner-tower, now the only remains are those of the NW angle-tower. The tower, which is three storeys high, shows clear evidence of where the W wall of the main tower house has been broken away at the E end of the N face. The tower must have projected by c. 2.5m W from the line of the wall of the main building. The tower contains the remains of a stairwell which gave access to the first- and second-floor levels. There is also evidence for an E-W vault in the broken S face of the tower, but it is too small to have been that of the main ground-floor area and would appear to be the remains of the entranceway in the S end of the W wall. The tower is built of roughly coursed limestone rubble and greywacke. It has three slit opes with embrasures in the W wall and two in the N. (Murphy 1895, 318; CLAHJ 1921, 28)

The above description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 17 July 2007

References

Wright, T. 1748 Louthiana: or an introduction to the antiquities of Ireland. London. Thomas Payne.

Murphy, D. 1895a The de Verdons of Louth. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 25, 317-28.

McKenna, Rev. L. (ed.) 1921 Poem to Ó Conchobhair Sligigh: by Maol Sheachluinn na nUirsgeal Ó hUiginn. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Society, Journal, vol. 5, 1, 18-23.