Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

References date only from the Civil Survey (1654-6) where a castle and bawn and 180 acres at Slevoy are the property of Alexander Rossiter, together with a total of 360 acres in Rahin and the unknown Newtown townland within Taghmon parish (Simington 1953, 83). During the Cromwellian period the castle passed to the Tottenhams and in 1733 Rev. H. Piggott, rector of Taghmon, obtained the lease, after which the tower was incorporated into a house and much altered (Jeffrey 1979, 128-9). It is situated on a slight rise on a S and E-facing slope.
Only the base of a rectangular tower (ext. dims. 6.95m NE-SW; 5.65m NW-SE) survives to the second floor with no base-batter but with granite quoins. A lintelled doorway (Wth 0.83m; H 1.35m) of dressed granite towards the W end of the NW wall, protected by a murder hole, leads through a lobby into the ground floor (int. dims 4.1m NE-SW; 3.05m NW-S) which has four embrasures, that at the SW with a double-splayed loop having the only original feature. A mural stairs, largely destroyed, in the SW wall gives access through a destroyed lintelled doorway to the first floor with one window under the NE-SW vault. This floor was supported on corbels in the NW and SE walls. The stairs continue in the SW wall to the second floor over the vault, the only original features of which are a garderobe at the E angle, and the remains of a fireplace and a large window (H 1.42m; Wth 0.78m) with a granite surround in the NW wall.
There is no evidence of the bawn, which was probably the rectangular area (dims c. 40m NE-SW; c. 30m NW-SE) to the W that was subsequently occupied by the Piggott house (now removed) at the E angle and by farm buildings, now either removed or derelict, on the other sides. The moated site (WX041-014001-) is c. 80m to the WNW.

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

References

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1953 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. IX: county of Wexford. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Jeffrey, W.H. 1979 The castles of County Wexford. Typescript prepared by the Old Wexford Society, Ed. E. Culleton.