
What is recorded here
Bawn in Tanrego West is a large limestone enclosure on the west shore of Ballisodare Bay, built in the late 17th or early 18th century. Its walls still stand two metres high around a grassy square, with small round towers at two corners and a gatehouse trace on the west side. The castle that once stood beside it has vanished, but the bawn remains, overgrown and quiet, a place where gun loops and buried rooms suggest violence and residence alike.
Situated in level pasture close to the W shore of Ballisodare Bay. O'Rorke (1890, 392) referred to 'an old castle and bawn, in fair preservation…in Tanrego. There are no upstanding remains of the castle (SL019-062001-). The bawn, of late 17th or 18th century date, comprising a quadrangular area (c .30-34m N-S; c. 24m E-W) defined by substantial walls of mortared limestone (Wall T 1.5-2m; H c. 2-c.5m). The main entrance, with indications of a gatehouse, is at the N end of the W wall. There is a second, probably relatively modern, entrance in the centre of the N wall. There are projecting D-shaped, single-storey towers at the E end of the N wall and in the centre of the S wall. There are a series of blocked-up gun loops in the bawn walls and in at least one of the towers. The enclosed area is densely overgrown with vegetation. However a number of low walls, probably of relatively recent origin, are visible. A short distance away is a house, probably of late 16th/early 17th century date (SL019-062001-).
Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan
Date of upload: 19 January 2011
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- What survives
- Recorded monument
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