Bawn in Tirlickeen

Associated with a 17th-century house (LF022-072001-). The 1641 depositions state that John Farrell, along with others, ‘had taken up his castle [LF022-072001-]; Great house [LF022-072----] & houses off office within the Bawen’ at Tirlickeen (TCD MS 817, fol. 277v). This subrectanular bawn (32.8m E-W; 31m N-S) is enclosed by a roughly coursed, rubble-built wall (H 0.2m-1.9m; T 0.7m) with an external fosse (Wth 2m-4.5m; ext. D 0.5m) that was water-filled at the time of visit. The wall is best preserved at the E angle and along the SE side. Only the wall-footings of the SW, NW and NE sides survive. A single upright stone on the W side of a wide gap (Wth 3.5m) in the SE wall may mark a possible gateway. A two-storey high, circular angle tower (int. diam. 3.6m; wall T 0.75m; H 3.5-4m) on the W corner is built with roughly coursed rubble and is rendered externally with lime. There is no base-batter. Access to the tower is through a broken-out doorway (Wth 1.2m) at SE. Two blocked-up slit opes or gun loops, set into flat-headed embrasures (H 0.9m; Wth 0.45m), are visible directly opposite each other just inside the doorway at NE and SW. They provided flanking fire along the external faces of the N and W walls of the bawn. Two recesses in the internal face at S may have been for supports of a timber stairs, which would have accessed the first floor. There is no evidence of any joist-holes or an offset for this floor level, which was lit by three flat-headed rectangular windows (H 1.05m; Wth 0.68m) at SW, W and N. The windows at SW and N are blocked up. A small wall cupboard (H 0.6m; Wth 0.4m) is also visible at NW. Within the interior of the bawn the wall-footings of a building (c. 9.8m E-W; 4m N-S), orientated E-W, that is depicted on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map are evident at E. There are no visible surface traces of the 17th-century house; it may have been located in the adjoining bawn to the SE. The latter irregularly shaped area (c. 72m E-W; 60m N-S) is defined by a roughly coursed rubble wall (T 0.7m), which is similar to the bawn wall and may be contemporary with it, and an external fosse (Wth 3m; ext. D 0.3m). It walls are now mostly levelled, only the wall-footings of the E and W walls survive, while the external fosse or moat is all that survives on the S side. A cobbled roadway runs through its S end. Another rubble-built wall (H 0.6m; T 0.7m), again similar in construction to the bawn wall, runs off the N side of the angle tower, it may be associated with the gardens or orchards of the house – see LF022-072003. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 18 June 2012

John Farrell was associated with the Bawn in Tirlickeen during the 17th century, as noted in the 1641 depositions, which highlight his involvement in the period of Confederate Ireland and land disputes. The site is remembered for its connection to the upheavals of the 1641 rebellion and the subsequent land conflicts in Ireland.