House - fortified house

The National Monuments Service's description

Remains of tower house incorporated in farmyard buildings situated in low-lying area S of Croghan hill. W end of N wall (c. 6.3m) built of rubble limestone with top of wall with modern battlements. SE angle tower situated SSE of castle appears to be part of bawn wall (Fitzgerald 1917, 385; ITA Survey 1942).
Situated at the base of Croghan Hill with good extensive views in all directions, except to N which is hindered by Croghan Hill with church (OF010-010006-) and deserted medieval village (OF010-010001-) to the N. All that remains of the castle are the NW and SE corners which stand to battlement height. The remains are incorporated into farmyard buildings making detailed examination difficult. The top of the NW corner has modernised battlements which contain bricks. Just below the battlements there is a chimney which is connected to a fireplace on the second floor. The fireplace measures 2.1m wide and 3.8m high. There is evidence of punch dressed stone in its construction. The S corner tower has evidence of a base batter on the S facing wall, this however may be a later addition. There is a wall attached to the W side of this tower with two openings which look like destroyed windows. This wall was probably part of the original castle. There is evidence of a wall walk inside the battlements of both towers. From these ruins it is possible to estimate that the tower house was three storeys high with a wall walk inside its battlements. The castle probably had external dimensions of 28.6m N-S; 13.5m E-W. Overall the castle appears to have been a well defended rectangular shaped fortified house of late medieval date due to its size, presence of brick and large windows which are not of a defensive nature. (O' Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 40; Comerford 1883, 320-22; Fitzgerald 1917, 385)
Testing took place under licence no. 04E0048 at the piggery at Old Croghan, Croghan Hill, Co. Offaly. The proposed development plan includes the alteration of six single-storey pig sheds and the construction of one single-storey pig shed. Testing was required, as the proposed development lies within the confines of an archaeological complex (OF010-010----). The method statement outlined the excavation of eleven trenches along the foundation footprints of the proposed pig sheds, but this was not possible as the existing sheds had not been demolished. Two trenches were excavated along two of the foundation footprints of House N, which is located in a field at the southern end of the site. A single trench, orientated east-west, was excavated at the eastern end of House G and a test-trench was excavated at the entrance to the site. All spoil heaps from the trenches were examined for finds using a shovel. Nothing of archaeological significance was recorded during the testing.
Ellen O'Carroll, The Archaeology Company, 17 Castle Street, Dalkey, Co. Dublin.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 23 April 2009

References

Irish Tourist Association. Surveys undertaken in the 1940s for the Irish Tourist Association (now Fáilte Ireland) relating to ‘Natural features, antiquities, historic associations etc.' Extracts from these surveys were copied into the Topographical files of the Office of Public Works and these have been incorporated into the Sites and Monuments Record files (National Monuments Service).

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1933 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the King's County collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Bray.

Comerford, Rev. M. 1883-6 Collections relating to the dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin, 3 vols. James Duffy and Sons. Dublin.

FitzGerald, Lord W. 1915-17 Two Colley inscriptions in the castle Carbury churchyard; with notes on the founder of the family. Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society 8, 369-87.