Castle (in ruins)

Situated on an E-facing slope at the E foothills of the Monavullagh Mountains. It was described as a large slate house with a bawn and outhouses owned by Darby O'Brien of Kilcomeragh castle (WA015-043----) in 1640 (Simington 1942, 78). It featured in the Battle of Comeragh in September 1643 when an English army under Sir Charles Vavasour marched N past the castle through a ditch that had been dug between the castle and the mountains to the W (Anon. 1906, 74-6). The house is a rectangular structure (int. dims. 19.65m N-S; c. 6.85m E-W) of which only the W wall with three double-splay loops (H 0.87m) in lintelled embrasures survives (Wth 1.85m; H 3m). O'Donovan c. 1840 describes a rebate for an upper floor with large window embrasures (O'Flanagan 1929, 37-8) which do not survive. Anon. (1906) Battle of Comeragh Mountain 1643, WAJ 9, 73-9. 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. 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: 25th March, 2011. Compiled by: Michael Moore