Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a small, low ridge running N-S, in pasture, with good views in all directions. Laragh Castle ruins stand in the NW quadrant of a possible earth and stone bawn (WM031-057002-). Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a large rectangular-shaped building (long-axis N-S) standing on the N side of a triangular-shaped earthwork or enclosure. The earthwork is shown on the revised 1910 ed. OS 25-inch map as a circular-shaped earthwork, with a only a stretch of the S wall of the castle upstanding along with a short return on SW angle. Laragh castle is depicted as a tower house type structure on the 1654-56 Down Survey map of Moycashel barony (NLI, MS 723-4). According to Cox (1969, 67 and 81), ‘Melaghlin, Lord of Kenaleagh, was murdered in 1478 in the Castle of Laragh. Connla Bui Geoghegan was said to be the last occupant of the castle, some remains of which existed in the last century.
Monument described in 1980 as the ruin of a long rectangular-shaped building which is defined by the upstanding remains of the S wall (L 11m; T 1.1m; max. H 6m) and SW corner. The walls are built of roughly coursed undressed limestone comprising of small sized boulders bonded with mortar. The slight remains of wall footings defined the line of the N wall. There is a small quarry depression just outside the projected line of the E wall. The S wall is about three stories high and there are the remains of a partly blocked window or doorway at ground level and two large window openings at first floor level. These window openings have round heads and an internal splay with the remains of some plaster. The E end of the ground floor level is approx. 1.75m lower than the remainder of the interior and may be the remains of a cellar. There may have been a vault over the ground floor but this is uncertain. The wall narrows at first floor level, forming a ledge which supported the first floor joists. There are no decorated or cut stones visible in the surviving ruin. This appears to be the remains of a 16th or 17th century house which may have been built on a ringfort. Partially levelled castle ruins visible today standing inside circular-shaped enclosure with triangular-shaped earthwork attached to SE side on Digital Globe aerial photography.
Laragh Castle and bawn described by Salter (2004, 151) as following; 'A D-shaped bawn [WM031-057002-] platform 28m across extends 20m to the south of the two storey high 12m long south wall 1.8m thick of a McGeoghegan tower beside a public road'.

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

Date of upload: 21 November 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.

Salter, M. 2004 The castles of Leinster. Worcestershire. Folly Publications.