Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a natural hillock atop of a ridge running E-W, in pasture, with good views in all directions. Carn Castle stood on lands belonging in 1641 to Earl of Kildare in the Parish of Conry (NLI, MS 723-4). Castle described in 1983 as only a section of the S wall of the castle remains upstanding (dims. 3m E-W; 2m N-S; H 5m) with traces of wall footings extending to E and N of the S wall. There are two large sections of collapsed masonry c. 5m to W of the upstanding section which are constructed of medium sized stones bonded with a rough mortar. The ground is uneven to E and W where there has been some quarrying. There are loose stones in the general vicinity of the castle. A modern stone wall running E-W lies c. 6m to N of the S wall of the castle. There are field clearance stones to S and E of the castle. According to Guest (1936, 29), a sheela-na-gig (WM024-123001-) in the possession of Henry Upton is said to have come from the fabric of Carn Castle.

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

Date of upload: 27 August 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.

Guest, E.M. 1936 Irish sheela na gigs in 1935. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 66, 107-29.