Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 481. Standing in the town of Delvin on the SE side of the main street with Anglo-Norman motte and bailey castle (WM014-004----) 60m to ESE, church (WM014-003----) 50m to SSW and graveyard (WM014-003001-) 17m to SSW. Sweetman (1999, 95, 99) classified this castle as a hall-house type fortification. McNeill (1997, 150) suggested that the corner towers on Delvin castle could be seen ‘as indicating a link to tower-houses in date’ while he suggested that the second floor may have been added (Ibid., 151). O’Keeffe (2000, 39) considered Delvin Castle to have been constructed in the 15th century / late medieval period. Castle described in the terrier of the 1659 Down Survey map of Castletown parish as a ‘Greate Castle only the walls thereof standing; a ruined church [WM014-003----] a small castle [WM014-005----] in repaire with diverse small cabbins, this was formerly a market town & the Earle of Westmeaths cheife seate’ (NLI, MS 723-4).
In 1682 Sir Henry Piers recorded that ‘Delvin in the Barony for it named, a large oblong square castle high raised having at each corner a large round tower which equalleth, if not surmounteth the castle a structure speaking ancient magnificence. It is now wholly waste, without roof or inhabitants. It giveth the title of a Lord Baron to the Right Hon. Richard Nugent, Earl of Westmeath, of an antient illustrious family descended from Baron Jones, who (without the title of Lord) was of the first English conquerors and seated here’ (Vallancey 1786, 62).
Only the SW half of a castle probably built in the 15th century as a residence for the Nugent family survives today on the S side of the main street of Delvin village. The castle originally consisted of a central rectangular block with circular towers or flankers on all four angles of the castle. Only two of these flanking towers survives today, standing five storeys high on the S and W corners.
Described in 1980 as, ‘the remains of a large rectangular building (dims. 11.7m x 15m ; wall T 2.5m) aligned NE-SW. The NW and SE walls remain in part, while the SW wall is intact. At the west and south corners there are massive circular towers (ext. diam. 5.5m) rising to their full height. Presumably similar towers existed at the northern and eastern corners. These corners and the NE wall are missing and the site occupied by a more recent house and shop. The lower floor is vaulted over with a brick vault and divided into four small cells, with two more in the bases of the corner towers. This appears to be 18th c. or early 19th c. and suggests that the castle was used as a prison at that time. There is no means of access to the 1st floor level’ (SMR File 21/10/1980).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 27 January 2016

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.

Vallancey, C. (ed.) 1786 Collectanea de rebus hibernicis, Volume 1. Dublin. Luke White.

Sweetman, D. 1999 The medieval castles of Ireland. Cork. The Collins Press.

McNeill, T. 1997 Castles in Ireland: feudal power in a gaelic world. London. Routledge.

O'Keeffe, T. 2000 Medieval Ireland an Archaeology. Gloucestershire. Tempus.