Bawn in St. Johnstown

On level ground in a valley with a house and farmyard to the SE and farm buildings to the NNE. There are good views in all directions, though limited by hills to the E. St. Johnstown church (TS062-055----) and graveyard (TS062-055001-) are located in an adjacent field 110m to the NE. In the Civil Survey (1654-56) ‘Robert St. John of St. Johnstowne Esqr.’ is listed as the proprietor in 1640 and the tower house is described as ‘a Castle with a Bawne about it w[hi]ch is in repaire’ (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 173). There is no evidence of a bawn enclosing the 16th-century five storeys with attic tower house (TS062-060003-) at St. Johnstown. However, in the W face where the entrance to the tower house is located, there are tie-stones projecting from the N and S ends of the W face to a height of 3.5m and a width of 1.4m. It is possible that this is all that remains of a small bawn, really more of a forecourt, at this tower house. A similar arrangement is evident at Kilcrea Castle, Co. Cork (CO084-022001-) (Power et al. 1997, vol. 3, 368-9) and a slightly larger version at Clara Castle, Co. Kilkenny (Leask 1951 (1986 reprint), 79-86). Both of these examples appear to be a 16th-century addition to a 15th-century tower house while that at St. Johnstown, if a bawn, appears to be part of the original 16th-century conception. It is also possible that there was a larger bawn, of which no visible remains survive at ground level. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of revised upload: 15 October 2014