Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on an E-facing slope, on outcrop, with a river at the base of the slope to the E. In 1640 Matthew Kennedy was listed as the owner of 108 plantation acres of land in Ballintotty consisting of 90 acres arable, 12 acres pasture and 6 acres of meadow (Simington 1934, 255). The Civil Survey of 1654-56 recorded that 'upon the sd lands standeth a ruined Castle ye walls onely standing with a streame or brooke, whereon is a Millseate (TN021-091----) one Oarchard & eight Cabbins' (ibid.). Present remains consist of a four-storey tower house with parapet, (ext. dims. 11.7m x 9.2m; wall T 2m) composed of roughly coursed limestone rubble. The entrance, at ground level, is through a pointed doorway in the N end of the E wall leading to a lobby with a murder-hole overhead and a guardroom to the S. A pointed doorway opposite the main entrance leads to the ground-floor chamber and mural stairs to the N continue up through the N and W walls. A ledge (H 0.8m) along the E and W walls at ground-floor level appears to be a springer for a vault never completed. There are embrasures with flat-headed single-light windows in the E and W walls and wall cupboards in the W and N walls. A garderobe chute is visible at the E end of the S wall - the inner face has collapsed and the large exit is now blocked. This chute was accessible from mural chambers at both first and second-floor level. The first floor has central embrasures in the S and W walls, with lights broken out, and a large fireplace recess in the E wall. The second floor is accessed through a pointed doorway from the mural stairs in the W wall. There is a fireplace in the E wall at this level; the jambs are intact but the mantle is missing. Window embrasures in the N and S walls provide access to mural passages. All upper levels were carried on wooden floors supported by corbels, except the third floor which rests on a barrel vault. The main chamber at third-floor level is entered from the stairs in the S wall. There is a window embrasure in the E wall with wall cupboards on either side. In the W wall there is a blocked single-light with an embrasure converted into a fireplace and a large niche inserted to the S. The N wall has a two-light ogee-headed window and a mural chamber accessed from a doorway in the internal N wall. Garderobe chambers occupy the SW and NW angles. The stairs in the SE angle lead to a blocked garderobe chamber and the NE angle stairs lead up to a parapet. There are mural passages in the N and S walls at wall-walk level with the shadow of a gable roof visible on their internal faces. There is a chimney stack on the wall-walk of the E wall and a pair of corbels at the E end of the S wall and at the S end of the E wall which probably formerly supported a bartizan. The shadows of two gables are visible against the external E face - these buildings are illustrated in the OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 201).

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.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload/revision: 10 June 2015

References

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1934 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. II: county of Tipperary - Western and Northern baronies. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840. Bray.