Castle in Ballinamore

On a prominent rise in rolling pasture. Built shortly after 1620 when Richard Browne and his wife Mary Plunket were granted lands in this area by King James I (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 490). On the 1837 edition of the OS 6-inch map the house, consisting of three blocks, is L-shaped in plan with the third block extending southwards off the E end. It is within the S half of an enclosing bawn (LF018-038001-), which appears to have been divided into two by a cross-wall running E–W off the N wall of the house. In 1892 ‘only two walls of the old castle’ remained standing (Wilson 1892, 291). These appear to be depicted on the 1911–12 revision of the map as an L-shaped section of walling. On inspection this section of walling, constructed of rubble limestone and overgrown with ivy, was still upstanding. It comprised the E wall of the main block (27.15m N–S; 12.6m E–W) of the house and the N wall of the smaller block (E–W 24.3m; 8.65m N–S) that extneded off its S end. The better-preserved E wall (L 18.5m; T .1.1m) survives to a height of three storeys. It contains six gun loops or slit opes (int. Wth 0.75m) at ground-floor level, which defended the SE quadrant of the bawn. At first-floor level are the remains of two large windows that are now broken out. Beam holes evident in the W face of this wall indicate that all the floors were wooden. The N wall (L 9m) of the smaller block survives to a height of one storey. Two gun loops, which provided flanking fire along the E face of the house, are evident. The S wall of this block and the W wall of the main block are largely collapsed and no visible trace of the N wall of the main block or the E wall of the smaller block survives. At a distance of 6.5m to the S of the smaller block are the poorly preserved remains of a low wall, which may be the remains of the third block of the house. A natural spring well, now partially covered over with large boulders, is located immediately outside the W wall of the bawn. A church (LF018-039----) and graveyard (LF018-039001-) lie c. 440m to the SE. Within the church is a memorial stone (LF018-039----) to Richard Brown and his wife Mary.