Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a S-facing slope. The parish church (ME032-017----) is c. 400m to the NE. The village of Monketon with 162 acres of demesne and a ‘capital mansion’ was owned by St. Mary’s Cistercian abbey (DU018-020048-) and leased to a Lady Eleanor Plunkett at the Suppression in 1540 (White 1943, 17). According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) Edward Dowdall owned 295 acres at Mountowne or Mounketowne in Skreen barony in 1640, and the property included ‘one castle, one water mill and one church’ (Simington 1940, 57).
Only the N wall of a four-storey tower house survives with good quoins. It had projecting towers at the NE and SW angles originally; the latter probably containing the stairs but only the former survives. The main chamber has a N-S barrel-vault (int. dims 4.6m E-W; 4m plus N-S) over the ground floor with large windows at the first and second floors and a smaller one at the third in the N wall. A tower projects E from the E end of the N wall. The ground floor (int. dims 2.5m E-W; 1.9m N-S) was vaulted but it is now destroyed, and it had lights in the E and S wall. This tower was entered through a lintelled doorway at every level and at the second and third storeys the floors were wooden. The roof of the third storey is corbelled to support a chamber at the parapet, but the parapet doesn’t survive. Some sandstone windows in the NE tower are probably reused. A raised rectangular earthwork (dims c. 10m E-W; c. 5m plus N-s) to the NW of tower house may indicate out-buildings of possible bawn (dims c. 50m N-S; c. 40m E-W) indicated by scarps.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of revision: 6 July 2016

References

White, N.B. 1943 Extents of Irish monastic possessions, 1540-1541. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1940 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. V: county of Meath. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.