Bawn

The National Monuments Service's description

In level terrain, on S shore of Shannon estuary, Morgans church (LI010-036001-) and graveyard (LI010-036002-) lie 1.2km to SE. Morgans House (LI010-119----) stands at SW corner of walled enclosure which appears 18th/19th century in date (wall is standard two-foot in thickness) and probably served as walled garden for house. This incorporates an earlier structure along its NE side which consists of a length of wall (L c. 7.5m NW-SE; T 1.35m) with a rectangular projection (4.8m NW-SE; 2.2m SW-NE) at its SE end, projecting to NE (see plan Donnelly 1994, vol. 2, 153-4). Opening on inner (SW) side gives access to rectangular lintelled chamber (2.5m NW-SE; 1.1m SW-NE), inside the projection, which has garderobe opening at its NW end and a small wall-press. This is ground floor of a taller projection as its outside (NE) wall contains two garderobe shafts. These garderobe's must have served a larger residential block attached to SW side of surviving structure, though Donnelly (ibid.) suggests the projection could also have served as 'a flanker' giving covering fire to the NE face of the wall. The character of this structure would suggest a late-medieval date; a ruinous castle of Morgans was held by Sir John of Desmond in 1587 (Westropp 1906-7, 207). The medieval castle (LI010-030----) of Morgans is depicted as a tower house like structure on the 1658 Down Survey map of Connello Barony (Hib. Reg.).
Westropp (1906-7, 207) recorded the following details about the bawn at Morgans Castle; '1603 Grant to Ric. Boyle, of the town of Morgans, or Morergans with an old stone C[astle] [LI010-030----] and bawne, late of J. Fitzgerald, Knight, attainted (Pat. R.) Boyle's son, Lord Brohill, held Morganes, on the river Shannon (C.S., p. 72)'.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 13 May 2020

References

Hibernia Regnum: A set of 214 barony maps of Ireland dating to the period AD 1655-59. The original parish maps have been lost but the Hibernia Regnum maps are preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Goblet 1932, v-x). Photographic facsimiles of these maps were published by the Ordnance Survey, Southampton in 1908.

Westropp, T.J. 1906-7 The ancient castles of the county of Limerick. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 26, 54-264.

Donnelly, C.J. 1994 The Tower Houses of County Limerick, 3 vols, unpublished Phd thesis, Queens University, Belfast