Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

In low-lying terrain in a river valley, the land rising to the W and SW and an E ridge running roughly N-S. According to the Civil Survey, in 1640 there was a 'Castle & Bawne' in Ballyherbery with 'Phillip Hackett' listed as the proprietor (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 218). A small stream runs along the N and E sides of the external base of the bawn. The tower house was located in the SW angle of the rectangular bawn (TS061-047002-). The SW angle of the bawn has an inner and outer 'skin' (H 1.6m; Wth 0.35m) which corresponds with a strenghtening of the wall for the tower house incorporated into this angle. Tie-stones and vertical scarring on the inner face of the S and W walls indicate where the N and E walls of the tower house joined onto the bawn wall and provide a internal dimension for the tower house (9m x 6m). A large lump of fallen masonry for the tower house is located 6.2m outside the S wall of the bawn, near the SW angle, where it must have fallen from a height. The OS Letters describe 'an old bawn within which, near the southwest corner, stood a castle which is now destroyed' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol.1, 108). Within the bawn and incorporated in the later building built onto the E wall of the bawn are a number of architectural fragments including chamfered stones, the chamfered sill or lintel of a narrow loop (Wth 0.14m) and the partially broken transom of a four-light window. The complex is marked as 'The Garrison' on the 1st (1840) ed. OS 6-inch map.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 26 August 2011

References

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.

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