Bawn

The National Monuments Service's description

The tower house (WX042-020001-) is at the W angle of a bawn (int. dims. 34m NE-SW; 25m NW- SE) whose walls survive only at the SW (max. H 6m) and SE (H 6.8m) sides. There is a round-arched entrance gateway (Wth 2.17m) protected by machicolation on the SW wall, and a stairs on the inner side of this wall leads to the wall-walk. There is a corner tower rising from the battlements at the S angle. The top of the SE bawn wall is possibly re-built since it lacks crenellations, but it has three gun-loops in the parapet. A stone with the inscription 'IHE ANNO DOMINI 1693' is built into the wall of the bawn and may commemorate a re-building, while another stone has the inscription ‘IHM 1730’ (Vigors 1895 97, vol. 3, 178). There is a circular tower at the E corner of the bawn (diam. c. 3.5m; H 8.3m). Archaeological testing (04E1554) just outside the N end of the NE wall of the bawn produced evidence of what might be a fosse (Wth 3m plus; D 0.8m plus) parallel with the wall (Noonan 2008, 10-12; excavations.ie 2007:1942). There was a chapel (WX043-001----) c. 80m to the E, and there is a holy well (WX042-020003-) c. 40m to the S. (Adams 1904, 235 6)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 28 May, 2013
Amended: 30 November 2020

References

Vigors, P.D. 1895-7 Killiane Castle. Journal of the Association for the Preservation of the Memorials of the Dead in Ireland 3, 175.

Adams, C.L. 1904 Castles of Ireland. London. Elliot Stock.

Stafford, E. 2008 Pre-Planning Archaeological Assessment, Killiane Castle, Co. Wexford. Licence: 04E1554. Unpublished report, Stafford McLoughlin Archaeology