What is recorded here

Castle Ballinlough stands on a natural rise in County Offaly, its thick limestone walls and circular bawn still bearing musket holes that hint at violent occupancy. The tower houses a murder-hole above the entrance, narrow stairs winding through dark chambers, and external bartizans projecting from the corners like stone claws. Built in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, it appears as a castle on the Down Survey map of 1655, suggesting continuous human presence through turmoil. The deep moat visible to the south and the intact wall-walk create a defensible silhouette where imagination easily fills the gaps left by time.

Situated on a natural rise of ground in undulating countryside. Rectangular tower (dims. 7.65m N-S; 8.5m E-W; wall T 2.1m) three storeys high with attic and wall-walk above, built with roughly coursed limestone rubble with base batter evident. The tower was built on a natural rise of ground that is enclosed by a roughly circular bawn wall (OF046-020002-) with musket opes which are best preserved to S with wall footings elsewhere. There is a deep wide moat outside the bawn wall that is visible at S only. The bawn wall (wall T 1.1m; diam. 33m E-W) is built with roughly coursed limestone rubble. The tower itself is accessed by a two centred pointed door with finely punch dressed jambs which are rebated with a yett hole visible. A murder-hole directly inside the doorway protects the passage to the ground floor chamber which is lit by three single flat headed windows set in wide deep embrasures. A mural passage in the E wall leads to a mural stairs in the NE corner which runs westwards to give access to all the main chambers. All the floors are wooden, carried on corbels. There is a garderobe chamber in the SW angle at first floor level. The second floor has a fireplace in the E wall with a tall rectangular chimney stack at wall-walk level. Access to the diagonally opposite bartizans which are carried externally on corbels at the NE and SW angles is from the third floor. The attic is lit by a small flat headed window either side of the E chimney stack. The E gable at wall-walk level is still intact and is accessed from the stairs in the NW angle. The wall-walk is crenellated with the E gable flush with the E wall. The stone dressing along with the architectural features suggests a late 16th/17th-century date for the Tower house. Depicted on the Down Survey map of 1655 as a castle. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

Built in the late 13th or early 14th century, likely by a local Anglo-Norman lord or Gaelic lordship, Castle Ballinlough is remembered as a typical example of a medieval tower house used for defense and local governance in the Cullenwaine area.

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