Ballynaboley Castle (in ruins)

On the brow of a low hill with good views to the N. Prim (1862-3, 234) relates that Ballynaboley Castle, and much of the townland, were part of the see-lands belonging to the Bishopric of Ossory and that the castle itself was built by David Hackett, who was appointed Bishop of Ossory in 1460. A five-storey heavily ivy-clad rectangular tower house (ext. dims. 10.4m E-W x 9m N-S, wall T above base-batter 1.2m) with a pronounced base-batter. Constructed of roughly coursed limestone rubble with larger roughly tooled blocks used as quoins. There is a pointed vault over the first-floor level, with the remains of wicker-centring. The tower house was entered through a, now broken out, doorway in the W wall at ground-floor level. The entrance lobby is protected by a murder-hole overhead, accessed from the second floor. The ground floor was lit by four single-light windows, one in the N and E wall and two in the S wall. The upper levels are accessed via a mural stair (Wth 0.8m) which rises from the NW angle along the N, W and S walls and is lit by simple loops. The first floor is entered via a pointed doorway at the W end of the N wall, with the stair lobby being defended by an over-head murder-hole accessed at second-floor level. It is lit by two single-light windows, one in the E and one in the S wall, both set within large embrasures. There are wall cupboards at the W end of the S wall, the S end of the E wall and in the N wall. The second-floor chamber (int. dims. 5.4m N-S x 6.5m E-W) is lit by a two-light ogee-headed window in the N wall, with window seats on either side in the embrasure, and by a shouldered single-light sandstone window in the W wall. There was a fireplace in the S wall, only the flue of which survives. There is a wall cupboard in the N wall and one on either side of the fireplace in the S wall. The third floor was accessed via a doorway, now collapsed, in the N wall of the W window embrasure. This floor was carried on a timber floor which was supported on large corbels, two of which project from the S wall and one from the W wall. It was lit by two flat-headed single-light windows, one in the N and one in the S wall. There is a wall cupboard at the W end of the S wall. A mural chamber, lit by an ogee-headed single-light window, was accessed from a doorway at the W end of the S wall. The fourth floor was also carried on a timber floor, with two surviving corbel supports projecting from the S wall. The stair up to this level has partially collapsed. The fourth floor was lit by two flat-headed single-light windows, each centrally placed in the N and S walls. There is also a wall cupboard in the S wall. A flat-headed doorway at the N end of the W wall gives access to an L-shaped mural passage which runs southward within the W wall, turning at the SW angle into the S wall. There appears to have been a fifth-floor level, evidenced by a loop in the S wall. The parapet does not survive. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 21 September 2021

Ballynaboley Castle was part of the see-lands of the Bishopric of Ossory, indicating ecclesiastical ownership during the medieval period. Its location and historical association with the bishopric highlight its regional administrative and strategic significance.