Castle - hall-house

The National Monuments Service's description

The terrier of the 1655 Down Survey map of Castletown parish recorded that in 1641 the lands of 'Ballistowne' were in the possession of James White (NLI MS 723-4). Billistown Castle appears to be the remains of a 13th/14th century hall house with first floor entrance which was converted into a tower house possibly in the 15th century or later when a round-arched doorway was inserted into the NW wall at ground floor level.
Standing on a low sub-rectangular shaped platform on a low rise of ground in undulating grassland. Possible outline of destroyed bawn (WM013-031001-) visible as a low rectangular-shaped enclosure surrounding Billistown Castle which is visible on Digital Globe aerial photograph taken November 2011. At the N corner of this platform there is a slightly raised area which may mark the site of a small structure, possibly the remains of an angle tower.
Ruins of a rectangular castle (ext. dims. above string course level 9.7m NW-SE x 7.4m NE-SW; wall T 1.45m above string course; 1.7m below string course) aligned NW-SE with base batter (H 1.25m) the top of which is delimited with a string course (H 0.95m-1.4m; T 0.25m). The walls and quoins are built with limestone rubble and now stand three storeys high. The walls appear to be standing on an earthen or mud bank acting as a clay foundation which is visible where the wall facing has collapsed. The SE wall survives intact to second floor level, the W angle of the SW wall has collapsed while only the E end of the NE wall stands to second floor level, the NW only stands a single storey high.
The castle is entered through a round-arched rubble built doorway (Wth 1.33m; H 2.05m) located off centre to W in NW wall, giving access to barrel-vaulted (H 3.8m) ground floor (int. dims. 6.8m NW-SE; 4.5m NE-SW). It is possible that this doorway is a secondary insertions and that there was originally a first floor entrance located off centre to W in SW wall. The springing of an arched opening possibly of a doorway is visible in the SW wall at first floor level. A drawbar slot and rebate is visible in the S splay of the embrasure suggesting that this was originally a first floor doorway. The stairs was located in destroyed W angle which gave access to ground and second floor levels. To the S of the first floor doorway are the protruding ties stones of a wall (approx. T 1m) which may be the remains of a stone fore-building protecting the first floor entrance.
The ground floor was lit by two slit opes (H 0.7m; Wth 0.1m) in NE wall located just above string course level which are set into low horizontal window embrasures (dims. H 0.6m x Wth 1.1m). These are the only two windows visible at ground floor level. There may have been windows in the SE and SW walls which have been blocked up and are no longer visible due to the cover of render on the internal and external walls. A wall cupboard or aumbry (Wth 0.41m x H 0.38m x D 0.4m) is visible in the NW wall with other single aumbries of similar dimensions visible in the NE, SE and SW walls at ground floor level. The internal surface of the ground floor walls are covered in well preserved render.
The first floor was lit by a slit ope located in the centre of the SE wall and a similar slit ope in the centre of the SW wall with a larger flat headed window located at E end of NE wall which may be a later window inserted into the fabric of the castle.
The second floor was lit by a wide flat headed window in the centre of the SE wall and by a smaller flat headed window located off centre to W in SW wall. The internal faces of the SE and SW walls are now covered in ivy.

Compiled and revised by: Frank Coyne and Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 6 April 2018

References

NLI, MS 723-4 - National Library of Ireland, The parish maps of the Down Survey for the County of Westmeath, attested by W. Petty, in 1659. Copied by Daniel O'Brien. A set of 67 maps with accompanying terriers in two volumes, 1786-7. Dublin.