Cappa Castle (in ruins)

On the W end of an E-W ridge, with the ground falling off steeply c. 12m W of the W face and falling gradually to N and S. The bawn, which extends E of the tower house, has been planted with conifers. The W side of the tower house stands on an earth and stone platform (H 1.3m). Probably one of the castles referred to by Sir William Pelham, President of Munster, in February 1580 as follows: 'the earl of Ormond and I assembled in the east end of Aherlow, in the county called Muscry, where certain of the Burkes kept three castles to the relief of traitors. I took these castles from them' (Cal. Carew MSS, ii, 224). In 1591 the castle was seized by the Crown from Walter Bourke fitz John and granted to Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond (Curtis 1943, 46). The Civil Survey (1654-6) refers to two castles in the 'Parish of Clonebulloge' (Simington 1931, vol. 2, 18). One is described as 'an old brocken castle Irepayreable', the other 'a demolished castle' (ibid.). One of the references is likely to refer to Cappa tower house. According to Davis White (1892, 28) the tower house was built by 'the Uniackes...to whom it was probably granted in the time of Cromwell'. However the OS Letters give Burkes as the traditional proprietors (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 3, 62). This tower house (ext. dims. c.9.7m N-S; 8.19m E-W; int. dims. 6m N-S; 4.45m E-W; wall T 1.84m; E wall carrying stairs T 1.9m) has the NW angle surviving to fourth-storey level, the S wall surviving to the base of first-floor level and only the S end of the E wall surviving). The external faces are obscured by ivy. It was built of roughly coursed sandstone rubble, with a slight base-batter (H 2.4m; Wth c .0.3m) and a vault over the first and third floors, both of which have collapsed. The entrance, now destroyed, was at the N end of the E wall, only a drawbar-slot (D 1.41m) in the N wall remaining. This formerly led into the ground-floor chamber and give access to a mural stair in the E wall which no longer survives. It is unclear whether the stairs continued to rise up the S wall or became a spiral stairs in the SE angle. The ground-floor chamber was lit by two windows, one single light in the N wall and a broken-out window roughly centrally placed in W wall. The S wall has two segmental-headed recesses which have remains of plank centring. Both spring from the side walls and rest on a shared central pier. The entrance to the first floor from the mural stair is only evidenced by a door recess in the E end of the S wall. It was supported on a wooden floor, carried on corbels, only one of which survives. Masonry collapse in the centre of the S wall at this level shows no evidence for a window, but any traces of this might be obscured by ivy on the outer face. There are no features on the W face as the vault sprang from the E and W walls, and the N face has collapsed at this level. Only the W wall survives at second-floor level, with a central single-light window. The S wall opens out to a mural chamber, probably a garderobe as the chute is in this SW angle and exits at the W end of the S wall. At the N end of the W wall there is a wall cupboard. The third-floor is heavily obscured by ivy. A central opening in the W wall is quite narrow and appears to be a flat-headed doorway. Remains of the vaulted ceiling can be seen springing from the W wall. Only the NW angle of the fourth floor survives. A corbel projects internally from the top of the N wall and there is an offset above this with parapet. There is a scatter of collapsed masonry strewn around the interior and a large chunk of collapsed masonry lies SE of the tower house. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 02 April 2014