Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

The Codd family of Clougheast are a branch of the Codds of Castletown Carne (WX053-027----), but the point of divergence is not clear. The name of the townland is derived from the Irish ‘clogh easka’ – a stone water-channel. In 1600 Jasper, the son of James Codd of Cloheske, was a minor, and in 1625 he possessed the castle and 120 acres in Clogheast and 60 acres in Churchtown (Cavanagh 1911, 256). According to the Book of Survey and Distribution (1660s) James Codd owned 190 acres at Clogheast, Crossland, Loghinsheare and Churchtown (Simington 1953, 305), and this was confirmed to Edmond Waddy in 1666 as part of an estate of 195 acres in Carne parish (Hore 1921, 49).
This tower house (ext. dims 8.7m N-S; c. 7m E-W) of five floors and an attic survives complete to the stepped crenellations. It has good quoins and the walls are battered at the base. The pointed entrance doorway (Wth 0.81m; H 1.78m) of dressed stone towards the W end of N the wall is protected by machicolation on the parapet, a portcullis with an internal door, and a murder-hole inside the door. From the lobby a pointed doorway (Wth 0.81m; H 1.7m) leads to the ground floor (int. dims 5.12m E-W; 3.68m N-S) which has an antechamber (int. dims 1.6m E-W; 0.98m N-S); H 1.16m) at the NE angle with no visible features, and double-splayed loops in embrasures on the E (Wth 0.08m; H 0.51m), S (H 0.58m) and W (H 0.61m) walls, that in the E wall having a hanging eye for a shutter. From the lobby the stairs rise in the N wall and turn onto the E wall for two steps to where a pointed doorway (Wth 0.7m; H 1.62m) enters the first floor under the E-W vault. This floor was supported on corbels in the N and S walls and there is an antechamber (int. dims 4.75m E-W; 0.95m N-S) at the W end of the N wall, which controls the defensive features around the entrance doorway. An L-shaped antechamber at the SW angle is probably a garderobe chamber, which is entered from the embrasure of the window in the W wall.
The stairs continue to rise in the E wall to the second floor (int. dims 6.05m E-W; 5.4m N-S) over the vault, which is entered by a pointed doorway (Wth 0.71m ;H 1.73m) at the S end of the E wall and has corbels to support the ceiling (H 2.17m) in the N and S walls. There are rectangular slit windows (Wth 0.17-18m; H 0.8-1.02m), each with a hanging eye for a shutter and in its own ledge at the back of an embrasure (Wth 1.57-1.85m; H 2.05-2.14m; D 0.7-1.33), on the S, W and N walls. There is a fireplace (destroyed) in the N wall, and lintelled antechambers at the N end of the E wall (int. dims 2.95m N-S; 0.91m E-W; H 1.54m), and at the centre of the W wall (int. dims 2.28m N-S; 0.85m E-W; H 1.95m). There is a garderobe chamber in the W wall which is entered at S from the window embrasure, while the chamber in the S wall (int. dims 2.63m E-W; 0.88m N-S; H 2m) is entered by doorways from the window embrasure to the W and from the main chamber. This chamber gives access to an oubliette or hidden chamber (int. dims 2.7m E-W; c. 1.3m N-S; H 1.6m) beneath floor in the thickness of the vault.
The mural stairs rise in the S wall to the third floor which is entered by a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.7m; H 1.74m) towards the E end of the S wall. This floor has a garderobe chamber in the W wall, and a slit window in its own embrasure on each wall, but the window on the E wall has two lights and a square hood moulding. There is a fireplace of dressed granite on the N wall, and the ceiling is supported on corbels in the N and S walls. The mural stairs continue to rise westwards in the S wall to the fourth floor, which is entered by a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.7m; H 1.71m) at the W end of the S wall. The only features on this floor are two slit windows in the E wall and one in the S, and corbels in the N and S walls to support the ceiling. There is a light in the S wall outside the entrance doorway, and around the corner in the W wall is a gallery or passage (dims 4.35m N-S: 0.82m; H 2.15m) with steps rising at its N. At the top of the steps a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.6m; H 1.65m) at the NW angle gives access to the attic, which has gables rising over the E and W walls.
The wall-walk and battlements survive complete with musket-loops in the merlons at the SE and SW angles and on the W wall. There is a look-out (int. dims 1.9m N-S; 1.39m E-W) over the stairs housing at the NW angle, accessed by steps on the inner face of the parapet of the W wall. The look-out is entered by a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.58m; H 1.72m) and has two musket-loops on each wall.
There is no evidence that there was ever a bawn, although the tower house is at the NE angle of a farmyard, which might have been developed on the perimeter of one. The shell of a two-storey, four-bay house (int. dims 13m N-S; 5.5m E-W), which appears to be 18th century in date, is attached to the N of the tower house, but a musket-loop and a slit window on the W wall at the ground floor indicates that it might retain masonry from an older structure. The castle and house were restored as a dwelling, and archaeological excavation (04E0822) in the interior of the tower house reduced the disturbed infill to below the natural, but some of the original packed clay floor (D 0.05-0.1m) survived in the SE part of the chamber. Some late medieval and post-medieval sherds were recovered (Sweetman 2007).

See the attached section of the Down Survey parish map (N at right) reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (Ms 725)

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 revision: 21 March, 2014

References

Hore, P.H. 1921 The barony of Forth, Part 2. The Past 2, 38-99.

Cavanagh, W.O. 1911-12 Castletown Carne and its owners. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 41, 246-58; vol. 42, 34-45.

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

Sweetman, P. D. 2007 Clogeast Tower-house. In I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 2004: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 460, No. 1792. Dublin, Wordwell