Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

References to the castle of Taghmon date from 1548 when William Hore of Harperstown (WX041-024----) received a grant of the castle and some land at Taghmon (Hore, 1901-11, vol. 5, 420). It is situated on a gentle SE-facing slope within the town. The rectangular structure (ext. dims 10.85m N-S; 10.28m E-W) survives complete to the wall-walk and the walls have a base-batter and good granite quoins. A round-headed doorway (Wth 1.05m; H 1.7m) of undressed stone located towards the S end of the E wall is now permanently sealed. It is protected by a machicolation on the parapet, a portcullis and a destroyed murder hole in the lobby operated from an ante-chamber at the first floor. The lobby leads through a destroyed doorway to the ground floor (int. dims 5.55m N-S; 4.4m E-W) which had no embrasures but there is a double-splayed loop in the W and N walls and one gun-loop or spy-hole at the W end of the N wall.
A mural stairs in the E wall gives access through a lintelled doorway (Wth 1m; H 1.85m) to the first floor under the N-S vault with windows in the N and S walls. There are corbels in the E wall and rebates on the other walls to support the floor, and a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.62m; H 1.9m) at the S end of the E wall leads to a chamber over the entrance lobby which commands the murder-hole to the lobby and also commands a murder-hole onto the stairs. The stairs continue in the E wall to the second floor (int. dims 6.4m E-W; 6.15m N-S) over the vault, which is accessed through a doorway (Wth 1.2m; H 2.5m) re-built in brick at the E end of the N wall.
This floor has a rectangular window with seats at the S end of the E wall, and a large, destroyed fireplace at the centre of that wall. At the N end at floor level there is a small hole, which may be damage or a spy-hole onto the stairs. The S wall has a rectangular window at the E end, a central, blocked window and an alcove with a single gun-loop at the W end. A garderobe (int. dims 2.05m N-S; 0.8m E-W; H 2.05m) at the SW angle is accessed through a destroyed doorway in the W wall which also has a large central opening, probably from a destroyed window. There is an ante-chamber (int. dims 1.4m E-W; 0.8m N-S; H 2.05m) at the NW angle and a relieving arch under the stairs that rise in the N wall to the third floor. The ceiling is supported on corbels in the E and W walls.
The third floor is entered through a doorway, rebuilt in brick (Wth 1.05m; H 2.35m), at the W end of the N wall and there is a broken-out cavity, possibly an oubliette or hidden chamber, at the E end of this wall. There is a window with seats at the S end of the E wall, while the S wall has a fireplace at the E end and a central window (blocked) with seats. The W wall has a garderobe at the S end and a central rectangular two-light window with a seats.
From the lobby outside the doorway to the third floor a newel stairs rises in the NW angle of the building to access the fourth floor through a lintelled doorway in the N wall. An ante-chamber with a destroyed doorway at the E end of the N wall, may have accessed the oubliette on the floor below. The E wall has a window with seats at the S end while the S wall has a fireplace at the E end and a window with seats at the W end. A lintelled doorway at the S end of the W wall leads to a garderobe, and there is a double-light rectangular window with seats in the centre of the W wall. This floor was originally supported by four corbels in the E and W walls. The newel stairs continue to the parapet which does not survive but there are fragments of machicolations at the NW and SE angles.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 20 March, 2013