Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in gently undulating pasture, with good views to NW and NE. Bishopstown Castle also known as Bishop's Court was depicted as a tower house type castle on the Down Survey map of Killare parish (NLI, MS 723-4). The terrier of this parish map stated that in 'Clare, Dooneild, Rathskeagh, Killinbrack, Bishopsland Ballikenny on each of them stands a Castle' (ibid.). On this map the castle stood on lands belonging to the Bishop of Meath (ibid.). Annotated ‘Bishopstown Castle in ruins’ and depicted on the 1837 OS 6-inch map as an L-shaped structure with gardens to S and two long buildings to SE. These buildings were not depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map and the castle was then annotated ‘Site of’. Levelled castle site described in 1977 as no surface remains visible. According to local information, the remains of this site consisted of a large subrectangular-shaped area (approx. 3 acres) enclosed by a wide bank and wide outer fosse that was to N, E and W. The bank had external stone facing (max. H 10ft / 3m). A wide bank set on a stone faced embankment enclosed the site to S. This enclosure and the interior were possibly levelled in the early 1950s.

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.