Castle Coonagh (in ruins)

Situated on rock outcrop on the N side of the E-W Nier River c. 50m from the river. Castle Connagh is recorded on a Down Survey terrier (1655-6) and is recorded as the property of John Lee in 1640 (Simington 1942, 92). It is marked as a ruin on a Taylor and Skinner map (1778, 127) and was described by J. O'Donovan c. 1840 as a stone tower of four storeys with a vault over the third floor (O'Flanagan 1929, 51-2). The castle is now removed without trace but one dressed quoinstone is built into the outer face of the roadside bank just to the N. Archaeological testing at the site during 2005 showed that there had been extensive quarrying (Gregory 2009, P 527, No. 1979). Gregory, N. (2009) Castlequarter: no arhcaeological significance. in I. Bennett (Ed.) Excavations 2006: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 527. Wordwell. Dublin. O'Flanagan, M. (Compiler) (1929) Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Waterford collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1841. Typescript. Bray. Simington, R. C. (ed.) (1942) The Civil Survey AD 1654-1656, vi, the County of Waterford. Irish Manuscripts Commission. Dublin. Taylor, G. and Skinner, A. (1778) Maps of the roads of Ireland. Reprint 1969, ed. by J. H. Andrews. Irish University Press. Shannon. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 9 August 2011

Built by an unknown constructor, Castle Coonagh was held by John Lee in 1640 and appears on a 1655 Down Survey terrier. Its significance lies in its historical documentation, reflecting land ownership patterns in 17th-century Ireland.