Castle (in Rns)

Situated at the W side of Passage East. The Aylward family is historically associated with the Passage area from 1311 and they were Lords of Faithlegg (WA010-005----) until the 17th century. Peter Aylward built a two-storey house here in 1572 (ext. dims. c. 7m NW-SE; c. 7.4m NE-SW; max. H 5m). It has a pointed doorway with a hood-moulding featuring the Alyward crest on an armorial plaque (dims. 0.88m x 0.63m) and the date 1572, centrally placed in the NE façade. One ground-floor and one first-floor window also survive. Most of the walls are extant with traces of a mullion and transom window in the SW wall and a possible garderobe at the N corner. This house is built onto the ruins of an older house (WA018-009005-) which was to the NW. The chimney flue and two blocked window embrasures are the only features of the earlier house which survive. (Walton 1979a, 22-3) Walton, J. (1979a) Aspects of Passage East. Part I. Decies, No. 10, 23-8. 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. Date of upload/revision: 23 December 2008