Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Knockglass house, an 18th century 5-bay, two story country house on a T-plan, may incorporate remnants of, or be built on the site of, a castle. A castle is not indicated on any editions of the OS maps, and is not mentioned in the 1838 OS Letters. The possibility that there was a castle here appears to be based on two brief references in Neary (1913-1914, 26-27) where he records that 'Knockglass Castle has also disappeared from the scene to make room for a modern residence' (p. 26), and again in a ‘List of castles and castle sites’, ‘Knockglass, now razed' (p. 27). The source of his information, however, is unclear.
Timoney (2009 Unpublished archaeological assessment submitted to NMS) carried out a pre-development assessment here in 2009 in advance of conservation works on the house and he suggested that, if a castle existed here, it may have been incorporated into the rear part of the house. He was unable to provide definitive evidence of this, other than to note two internal walls are quite thick and there are a number of low arched doorways. He did not see any dressed stone or evidence of a base batter, nor did he note any evidence of an early structure amongst the outbuildings.
The house is recorded by the NIAH as a Georgian country house with a suite of farm buildings, walled garden and gate lodge (Reg. No. 31302915), but they make no mention of the castle or the possibility that part of the house may predate the 1700s.

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 11 April 2018

References

Neary, Rev. J. 1913-14 Some notes on Killala Diocese. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 8, 12-38