House - 17th century

The National Monuments Service's description

A ruined castle at Killaghan is depicted on the Strafford map of c. 1636 (Simington 1949, Athlone (263)) and Sir Luke Dillon of Lough Glynn (RO020-003001-) owned 256 acres there in 1641. He also owned over 1300 acres elsewhere in St John’s parish, which the family retained through the Cromwellian settlement (ibid. 114-5).
The house is situated on a slight ENE-facing slope. A rectangular block of two storeys and attic (ext. dims 15.35m ENE-WSW; 7m NNE-SSE) faces S, but the S and most of the N walls do not survive. There was a doorway towards the W end of the N wall and large fireplaces at each floor in the E and W gables, but only the attic had windows in the gables. A flanking tower to the SE (ext. dims 7.5m NNW-SSE; 6.2m ENE-WSW) has fireplaces in the S wall at its two floors and attic, an oven and two gun-loops in the E wall, and doorways to the outside and the main block in the N wall at the ground floor. A similar flanking tower to the SW (ext. dims 6.5m NNW-SSE; 6.15m ENE-WSW) has doorways to the main block and the outside at ground level in the N wall with windows on the E and W walls. The first floor had at least one window and possibly three gun-loops in the E wall. There is a false chimney-stack over the gabled S wall. The two flanking towers have string-courses beneath the roof-line. Archaeological testing (05E1192) c. 70-80m to the SE failed to produce any related material (Tierney 2005).
The house is within a rectangular bawn (RO045-107002-) (dims c. 52m N-S; c. 28m E-W) defined by a low scarp (H 0.3m) down to the interior at N and an external scarp (H 0.4m) at S. Its W edge may be defined by a N-S drystone wall, and its E edge has been removed by a N-S public road. W and N of the bawn is an L-shaped walled garden (RO045-107003-), existing mostly on the W side (dims 160m NE-SW; c. 70m NE-SW) of the public road but extending across to the E side (dims c. 75m NW-SE; c. 75m NE-SW) at N. It is defined by clay-bonded walls at NW and SW which narrow with height (Wth of base 0.6m; Wth of top 0.4m; H 2.3m). The garden walls have two robbed pointed entrances (Wth 2.3m; H 1.8m) towards the S end of the SW wall, and a single similar entrance in the NW wall.

See the attached view taken from the SE

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 24 August 2010

References

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1949 Books of survey and distribution. County of Roscommon. Dublin. Stationery Office.

Tierney, M. 2005 Archaeological testing and Visual impact assessment at Killaighan and Gort townland, Lecarrow, Co. Roscommon. Licence No.: 05E1192. Unpublished report: The Archaeological Company