Castle - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

Castle site depicted standing on glebe land 350m W of St. Mary's church of Castletown Kindalen (WM032-014003-) also known as Vastina and 235m N of medieval castle site (WM032-013----). Glebe House depicted 200m to E. Depicted as 'Site of Castle Kindalen' on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map. This castle site may have been a 17th century house or 'court' described in the Ordnance Survey Letters of 1837 which stated that 'there was a Court, where a schoolhouse now stands at the glebe house. This court it is said, was built about 200 years ago and occupied by the Geoghegans from one of whom, Captain Dillon purchased it. The stones made use of in building this court, were translated to the building of Jamestown House, which was built 80 or 90 years ago by Kedagh McGeoghegan' (OSL, 308-09).
Castle site surveyed by Con Manning in 1999 and described as following; 'Examining this site closely I noted that one section of wall (marked in red on attached map copy) is earlier than the rest and could well be medieval. There is part of a relieving arch visible in the south face near ground level. The other portions of wall appears to be post medieval and might mark an entrance off a sunken way that appears to run along this line of field fences in a roughly east/west direction (SMR File 14/10/1999). An earlier ASI report from 1981 recorded that 'some high section of stone wall, the wall curving in places mark the site of the castle. This wall now marks the boundary between two fields. There is nothing to indicate that the remains are part of a castle, no definite remains of structures and no decorated stone (SMR File 19/10/1981). On the OS 25-inch map, a section of the N wall of Castle Kindalen is indicated running E-W immediately to the S of the post-medieval house marked on this map as 'Vastina Lodge'. This wall running E-W appears to be the N gable of a castle known as 'Castle Kindalen'. On the 1837 edition of the OS 6-inch map the centre of the N gable appears to kick out in a fashion similar to a gable-ended chimney stack. This map appears to depict short sections of the E and W side walls running off the S face of the N gable of Castle Kindalen.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 12 February 2013

References

OSL - Ordnance Survey Letters. Letters written by members of the Ordnance Survey's 'Topographical Department' (T. O'Conor, A. O'Curry, E. Curry, J. O'Donovan and P. O'Keeffe) sent to headquarters from the field (1834-41). MSS in Royal Irish Academy.