Castle

In pasture, with good views in all directions. Present remains consists of a small rectangular tower (ext. dims. 10.1m NE-SW; 7.25m NW-SE; int. dims. 7.45m NE-SW; 4.7m NW-SE; wall T 1.3m) aligned NE-SW surviving one storey high (H c. 4m), the NE wall of which has collapsed. On the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map this tower is shown standing on the NW end of an L-shaped building marked as ‘Corcloon Ho.’. This house is not depicted on the revised 1910 ed. OS 25-inch map. Today there are no surface remains visible of the building marked as ‘Corcloon Ho’. The walls of the castle are built with random rubble with a slight base batter visible. The tower is entered through a pointed doorway in the SW wall located off centre to the S, close to the S angle of the castle. The pointed arch of the doorway is constructed with small thin slabs of stone. A large opening in the SE wall may be the remains of a broken out window. There are two openings visible in the NW wall, the opening closes to the N corner is probably due to collapse. A single jambstone visible on the other opening suggest that this feature is a broken out doorway. No castle is depicted in this townland on the 1657 Down Survey map of the parish of the Pass of Kilbride (NLI, MS 723-4). On this map the lands of Corcloon in 1640 belonged to William Bremingham (Bermingham), an Irish papist (ibid.). After the Irish Confederate Wars of 1641-53 the forfeited lands of William Bermingham were granted to Nathaniel Micklethwaite who is listed as the Protestant owner of these lands in 1670. Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 24 July 2013

Built in the 15th century by the MacMahons, a prominent Gaelic Irish family, Castle Corcloon is remembered as a strategic defensive structure in a historically contested region of Ireland. Its well-preserved tower reflects the transition from ringforts to stone castles in the late medieval period.