Castle in ruins

On a rise in the SE sector of a small island, named Castle Island, located in the N half of Lough Cutra. This poorly preserved square tower house (7m NE-SW; 7m NW-SE) survives to a height of two storeys. A base-batter is evident and the external corners are rounded but the S one has partially collapsed. The SW wall may have been partially rebuilt as a number of dressed stones have been reused in its make-up and it is not of the same uniformity in construction as the other walls. The lower section of the entrance doorway survives in this wall. It opens directly into the only room that occupies the floor. Single-light splayed lancet windows are visible in the NW and SE walls, that in the NW wall is round headed while that in the SE wall is pointed; the spudstone that would have held a shutter survives on the latter window. An alcove is visible to the N of the NW window and there is another possible alcove or chute to the S of the SE one. A fireplace made of well-dressed and chamfered stone survives almost intact towards the E end of the NE wall. Another one is visible above it on the 1st floor. Corbels in the NW wall indicate that the floor between the ground and 1st floor was wooden. On the 1st floor opes in the E and W corners would have accessed bartizans and some of the corbels that supported them are visible in the external wall-faces. Another splayed ivy-covered single light is visible in the NW wall. Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 13 September 2021

Built in the 15th or 16th century, likely by a local Gaelic lord or Anglo-Norman family, Castle Island is remembered as a rare example of a tower house on a lake island, reflecting the strategic and defensive considerations of early modern Ireland.