What is recorded here

Bawn in Castlemore is a rectangular walled enclosure in County Cork, Ireland, measuring forty-five metres east-west and twenty metres north-south. Two towers rise at its southeast and southwest corners, while an L-shaped eighteenth-century house occupies the entire west end, swallowing the southwest tower into its angle. The south wall still stands nearly two metres thick, heavily clad in ivy, and the east wall has fallen entirely. Defended paddocks once stretched north and south of the bawn, but they have become overgrown and inaccessible.

Remains consist of roughly rectangular bawn (c. 45m E-W; c. 20m N-S), E wall fallen but substantial remains of N and S walls surviving; two towers, to SE and SW; L-shaped 18th-century house which, with SW tower, occupied whole W end of bawn, enclosing tower in SW angle of L (see plan, Gillman 1892b, 214). Gillman (ibid., 219) also mentions defended 'paddocks' to N and S of bawn: area overgrown, disturbed and inaccessible. S enclosing wall of bawn (L 7.2m; Wth c. 1.95m) heavily ivy-clad, with noticeable base batter on S face. Breaks off at W end, at E end joins 4-storey tower (c. 6.5m N-S; c. 5m E-W) at SE corner of bawn, midway along its W elevation. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Bawn in Castlemore was likely built by a local Gaelic family in the late medieval period, with the surviving walls and towers indicating its defensive character. The site is important as a rare surviving example of a bawn structure, reflecting early Irish castle architecture and landholding patterns.

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