Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on flat pasture in an upland area with good views. According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) the proprietor of the castle was Theobald Butler of Killoskehane and the ruins were described as 'a castle, a stone house in repayre & ye ruines of a decayed mill a garden and sevall cabbins there runns a little brooke neere the house' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 23). A well-preserved seventeenth-century tower house (ext. dims. 10m NW-SE; 12m NE-SW; wall T 2m) three storeys high with a six-bay, two-storey early eighteenth-century house added to the W end, both of which were re-modelled in the nineteenth century. The tower house, with external base-batter, was accessed at the N end of E wall which led to dog-legged wooden stairs from which the upper floors could be reached. All main chambers were originally lit by windows set into deep embrasures which have been heavily modified. A mural passage at first-floor level in the E wall gives access to a garderobe in the centre of the E wall. A doorway in the SE angle of the second floor leads to a battlemented wall-walk with crow-stepped gables. A datestone on the front of the house stating 'Built 1600, rebuilt 1865' dates the construction of the tower house and modifications made to both buildings (Craig 1972, 46; Stout 1984, 133-4; Bence-Jones 1988, 171, 298).

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

Bence-Jones, M. 1988 A guide to Irish country houses. London

Craig, M. 1972 Buildings of architectural interest in Co. Tipperary (N.R.). An Foras Forbartha. Unpublished.

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1931 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol I: county of Tipperary: eastern and southern baronies. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Stout, G. 1984 The archaeological survey of the barony of Ikerrin. Roscrea Heritage Society.