Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a natural ries of ground in flat poorly drained land with extensive views. Adjacent to the 'Togher of Redwood' (TN001-001003-). A heavily restored four-storey tower house (ext. dims. 13.2m N-S; 16.55m E-W; T 2.8m) with two projecting towers at the NE and SW angles. A central recessed E face with a two-centred doorway gives access to the ground floor. Directly over this doorway at first-floor level there is a relieving arch of a possible earlier doorway (FitzPatrick 1985, vol. 1, 4). The crenellated battlements and SW bartizan at wall-walk level have been heavily restored as well as the upper floor windows which are recent insertions. A large rectangular chimney stack, which protrudes from the wall-walk along the centre of the N wall, has also been restored. A twin garderobe chute exits at the base of the S face of the SE tower and there is a sheela-na-gig (TN001-001004-) under a modern balcony on the recessed E face of the tower. Fenestration consists of simple flat-headed rectangular opes and single-light ogee-headed windows. The tower interior was inaccessible at the time of visit. The tower house would appear to be of fifteenth-century date with later sixteenth-century alterations. It was a stronghold of the MacEgans and was reputedly a famous school of History and Law in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (ITA Survey 1943).

The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008

References

FitzPatrick, E. 1985 An archaeological survey of castles in the barony of Lower Ormond, vols. 1-4. Unpublished typescript. National Monuments Section, Heritage and Planning Division, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dublin.

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).