Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in pasture, to NW of a farmyard. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as a subrectangular-shaped structure, annotated 'Boardstown Castle (in Ruins)'. No castle is depicted in the townland of 'Bourdstown' on the 1654-57 Down Survey map of Mullingar parish (NLI, MS 723-4). In 1732 Boardstown was the residence of John L'Estrange (Burke 1847, 724).
Monument described in 1976 and 1980 as the poorly preserved remains of a small tower house with barrel vaulted ground floor which has mainly collapsed. The N wall (L 13.4m; H 5m) and NE corner are best preserved. The E wall (L 13.4m) is in a partial state of collapse with evidence of a blocked doorway. The S wall (L 13.3m) is defined only by low wall footings and the W wall (L 13.5m) is poorly defined. The collapsed walls have filled the interior with rubble to the level of the ground floor vault. Some remains of this barrel vault still exist along the SE side. Grass-covered wall footings and rubble extend a short distance to S from the ruin and is reputed to be the remains of a Georgian house which was built onto the S side of the castle. Some remains of window fragments and reused quoin stones have been built into an outhouse in the adjoining farmyard. There are no obvious earthworks in the vicinity.

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

Date of upload: 04 June 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.

Burke, J. & Burke, J.B. 1847 Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, Volume 2. London. Henry Colburn.