Former Bawn Wall

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Partially demolished and overgrown four metre high rubble sandstone wall with cross and vertical musket slots at approximately two and a half metre centres. The surviving sections of wall abut the east and west gables of Dungiven Castle (HB02/06/003A). On the west, about 8 metres remain before abutting a modern cattle shed. There is one cross shaped loop and a door opening to the side of the castle. The wall is approximately 500mm thick. On the eastern side the wall is about 3½ times as long. In the centre is a castellated entrance gate with a 2 pointed arch under. The voissoirs are of smooth cut ashlar and are chamfered. The exterior of the gate to the east projects 200mm from the wall and is finished in ashlar across its whole extent. There is a simple stringcourse under the battlements. Musket loops to the south near the castle have been blocked up and there is evidence of lean to roofs now cleared away. Plaster on the wall states “ball alley plastered by W Comm… and L.C. … 1954”. Three loops to the north are cross, vertical and vertical with a middle indent. This last is cut from a single stone on the exterior. The area, enclosed by the walls, is presently a building site. To the east a modern bar is less than a metre from the wall. To the west part of the site is taken up by a cattle mart.

Historical information

Dr. Ann Hamlin, Director of Built Heritage wrote in 1996 that Dungiven Castle is built on the site of a late 17th century fortification. “Lady Cooke’s Castle” is recorded and illustrated in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs. She is supposed to have died in 1688, so if she established the castle it probably dates form the 2nd half of the 17th century. The present castle according to Dr Hamlin was built in 1839 by Robert Ogilby of Pellipar. The 1832 Ordnance map shows a bawn wall in the line of the present structure, and it is unlikely that this was demolished and rebuilt in the later works. It encloses a formal path layout and extends to approx. 40 metres from Main Street with a flanker at the north west corner. The gate recorded with its more finished ashlar work and battlements is likely to have been part of the rebuilding works to the structure. Demolition of parts of the bawn wall seems to have occurred by 1856 where the wall to Main Street has been removed, parts have continued to be demolished throughout this century. Its ownership has always been the same as the main castle structure. In 1890 Robert Alex Ogilby purchased the castle and its grounds from the Skinners Company. In 1925 an American James McCloskey bought the property, Limavady District Council acquired it and the remaining parts of the bawn wall in the 1980s. The bawn was listed as part of the castle structure in 1975.

Scheduled Monument No SMR Ldy 25.5

References

Primary Sources
O.S. Memoirs of Ireland Parishes of Co Londonderry IV 1824, 1833-5
ed. by Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams Institute of Irish Studies Q.U.B. p. 54, 43
O.S. Map 1st Edition 1832 Co Londonderry sheet 25.
O.S. Map Dungiven 1859 val. map 6” to 1 mile Val. 2D/5/12.
O.S. Map 1905-06 Revision Co Londonderry sheet 25.
Hamlin : Background Note – Dungiven Castle June 1996 Historic Monuments files.

Secondary Sources
Curl The Londonderry Plantation 1609-1914 p. 290, 291, 292, 293, 296, 297
Rowan Buildings of Ireland – North West Ulster p. 266
HMSO Historic Monuments of Northern Ireland p. 58, 127 – Ref No: LDF725:5

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Surviving piece of plantation architecture badly encroached upon by neighbouring buildings. Enhances the setting and character of Dungiven Castle and is of important historical interest to Dungiven. It is also an important survival of the plantation.