House - fortified house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a low rise, in pasture, with good views in all directions. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a rectangular structure aligned NNE-SSW annotated ‘Castle’. Levelled castle described in 1978 as only the grass-covered wall footings survive of a rectangular-shaped building (18m NE-SW; 8m NW-SE). Some large stones and boulders are visible in the remains of the walls (H 0.5-1m). There is a gap midway along the NW wall and a second gap at the SW end of the SE side. There is a small rectangular annex (dims. 8m NE-SW; 5m NW-SE) or tower projecting out mid-way along the SE side, this may have been a tower for a staircase to give access to a first floor level There is slight trace of a separate wall footing which runs parallel to the main structure, c. 3m to NW. There is no obvious trace of any surrounding earthworks. Old cultivation ridges running NE-SW are visible in the surrounding fields. The wall footing of a long, rectangular structure (dims. 10m N-S; 4m E-W) lies to SW of the main building, which may be the remains of some form a garden boundary feature. The slight remains of an annex (dims. 4m E-W; 3m N-S) adjoin the northern end. A low bank with the remains of a wall footing at S enclose a small area adjoining the W side of the structure.
The site does not resemble the remains of tower house and may be the remains of a 16th-17th century fortified T-plan house. No castle is depicted in this townland of on the 17th century Down Survey map of Mullingar parish (NLI, MS 723-4). In 1641 the lands of Brottonstown Little belonged to Alexander Hope who is listed as an 'Irish papist' (ibid.). Levelled castle is visible as the outline of a rectangular structure on Digital Globe aerial photography.

See attached sketch plan of levelled house.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien

Date of upload: 11 February 2019

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.