Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a plateau overlooking a SW-NE ravine. This tower house was owned by the John Butler in 1640 (Simington 1942, 102). This is a circular tower (diam. 8.8m) surviving almost to the wall-walk (H c. 10m) at W and S. Internally the chambers are rectangular and the entrance at N is destroyed. The ground floor (int. dims. 4.7m N-S; 4.3m E-W) has windows at E and W with two gun loops in each. A mural stairs at E lead to the first floor which has a window and musket loop at S, and an E-W barrel-vaulted loft overhead. From the stairs a mural passage with two musket loops leads to a garderobe in the wall at S. A newel stairs at E lead to the second floor which is inaccessible but has a fireplace at SW. The tower is on the S boundary of a grass-covered trapezoidal enclosure (dims. 53m NW-SE; 40m NE-SW at N; 66m NE-SW at S) defined by a slight scarp (max. H 0.5m) and traces of a fosse (Wth 4m).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload/revision: 23 December 2008

References

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1942 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol VI: county of Waterford. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.