Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated at the NW end of a 19th-century house and appears to have been considerably altered by the occupiers of the house. The remains of the castle are situated on top of a motte-like earthwork (OF026-005002-) with possible surrounding bawn wall which is visible at E angle. Only the W wall of this tower house (dims. c. 7.5m x 8m) remains with a later door inserted into the W gable. The Tower house survives three storeys high and is built with roughly coursed limestone boulders with slight base batter visible. 19th-century church located on site of medieval church (OF026-004001-) to SW of castle. Fireplace and chimney stack at SW angle with possible curtain tower at E angle of bawn (OF026-005003-). Attacked by the Irish confederate army in 1641 when it was occupied by Lettice, Lady Offaly (Fitzgerald 1918-22, 27-8). According to Leask (1918, 4) ground floor was vaulted. (Cooke 1875, 43: O' Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 53-6)

Testing was carried out under licence no. 04E0076 as part of the planning schedule for a housing development adjacent to a tower-house (SMR 26:5(01)). A series of trenches were excavated by mechanical digger at the house sites, roadways and ancillary works. No features or finds of archaeological significance were revealed.
John Purcell, 17 Balmoral Terrace, Dillon's Cross, Cork.

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

Cooke, T.L. 1875 The early history of the town of Birr. Dublin. Robertson.

FitzGerald, Lord. W. 1918-22 The Earl of Kildare's Manor of Geashill, in the King's County; with notes on Killeigh, in the parish of Geashill. Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society 9, 1-33.

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.