Bastioned fort in Longfordpass North

Situated on a SW-facing slope of rising ground surrounded by bogland with a nearby church (TN042-025) to the NW and an eighteenth-century barracks to the S. Only the earth and stone bank (Wth 1.1m; int. H 0.8m; ext. H 1-2m) survives of the NE and SW pear-shaped bastions of a seventeenth-century artillery fort. Described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as 'being lately erected upon the sd lands a strong fort by name Fort Ireton' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 49). The fort originally consisted of a central rectangular area with four pear-shaped flanking bastions delimited by earth and stone banks with evidence of wall-footings protruding from the top of the banks in places. Low wall-footings of a rectangular building orientated on an E-W axis are visible in the fort interior. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008