What is recorded here

Carneycastle stands on flat pasture in County Tipperary, its four-storey stone tower still holding a barrel vault, carved window heads and a machicolation above the western wall. The eastern wall has vanished, the spiral stairs are gone, and a later dovecote intrudes into the north-west angle, yet the round-arched bawn gateway and punch-dressed jambs remain sharp enough to suggest a household that valued both defence and display. Whatever life moved through those rooms has thinned to shadow, but the building still points outward across open fields, proud and incomplete.

Situated on flat pasture with extensive views. Present remains consist of the W wall of the tower house along with the W end of the N and S wall returns with no visible remains of the E wall. The surviving tower (ext. dims. 9.5m N-S approx. 5.95m E-W; wall T 1.3m) is four storeys high with a barrel vault over the first floor; elsewhere the building had wooden floors carried on large corbels. The spiral stairs in the SW angle are destroyed and a nineteenth-century dovecote has been inserted into the NW angle of the building. There is a machicolation visible at wall-walk level over the centre of the W wall. The main doorway (now destroyed) was probably located at the centre of the S wall. The windows consist of flat-headed single-lights at ground-floor level with twin-light ogee and flat-headed windows at second and third-floor levels. A single-light round-headed window in the SW angle has an interlace ring-headed cross decoration over the external head of the window. At first-floor level on the centre of the W wall there is a finely carved head in relief on the external face of the sill-stone of a window. A window on the NW angle at second-floor level has punch dressing in patterns similar to the mint in Carlingford, Co. Louth and Coole Castle, Co. Offaly which are both sixteenth century in date. A bawn wall (TN010-052002-) is attached to the SW and NE corners of the tower house with a nineteenth-century house and outhouse located inside the bawn area (ext. dims. 34.6m E-W; 47m N-S; wall T 0.82m). The bawn wall is constructed of roughly coursed limestone rubble with base-batter. A round-arched gateway with rebated punch-dressed jambs and hood-moulding over an arch with decorated terminals is located at the centre of the S wall. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008

Built in the 15th century, Carneycastle was likely held by local gentry, reflecting the defensive and social needs of the region during the late medieval period. Its importance lies in its well-preserved tower house remains, which contribute to understanding domestic and military architecture in rural Scotland.

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.