House - 16th/17th century

The National Monuments Service's description

On the E side of Collooney village, in the NW corner of a walled garden known as 'the castle gardens'. According to local tradition, the S (L 9m; H 3m) and E (L 7.3m; H 3m) walls of a complex containing a garage and outbuildings, are the remains of Richard Coote's house known as Collooney Castle (O'Rorke 1878, 54; M. A. Timoney 1999). The walls are of random-rubble limestone construction, partially covered by a plaster render. The E wall contains one blocked-up rectangular window ope (Wth 1.1m) and the S wall has two similar blocked-up opes. The structure contains no datable architectural features.
The house was built for Richard Coote by the architect Daniel Thomas and was finished by one of his sons in 1657 (Loeber 1981, 107). Coote was resident in Collooney Castle in 1659 and derived his title Baron Coote of Collooney from the place (ibid.); he was later created Earl of Bellamont. O'Rorke (1878, 52-4) states that much of the castle at Cloonmacduff (SL020-207----) was 'pulled down and carted away to build Lord Bellamont's mansion in Collooney'. It was listed as containing 'ten hearths' in 1662, unusually large for a settler's house (O'Dowd 1991, 141). According to Wood-Martin (1889, 106), 'the fortified house of Lord Bellamount' was located 'close to the new Roman Catholic Church'; it is in fact to the E of the church. Recent archaeological test trenching at the site 'did not reveal any soils, features or finds of archaeological significance' (Conway 2000, 274).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005).

Date of upload: 18 January 2008