Castle in ruins

In lowlying, gently undulating terrain, located on a low hillock/rise, 5m S of an E−W canalised stream/drain. Corraun Lough is half a kilometre to S. There are excellent views N−SE; elsewhere views are restricted by trees. Castleville farm is located c. 50m to SE, featuring vernacular buildings arranged around a walled courtyard. A rectangular building named ‘Castle in Ruins’ is shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map; only the NE end of the building is shown on the 1915 edition. The castle, which is in a ruinous state, stands on a subrectangular mound/platform, probably a modified natural rise. The remains are rectangular in plan (10.8m NE−SW; 8.9m NW−SE), but the SW angle of the building is gone. The internal NW−SE dimension of the building is 4.7m. The surviving walls stand to a height of 2-3m; the wall thickness appears to have been at least 2m. The external wall face is poorly preserved, but the inner wall face is largely intact, revealing roughly coursed masonry of rough-hewn limestone blocks. The NW wall (L c. 10.8m) is best preserved, topped with ivy. Midway along its length is a break, on the N side of which is fragment of a window reveal. At its SW end, the wall expands in a block of masonry (2.7m NW−SE; 3.5m NE−SW), projecting outwards externally by c. 0.4m beyond the NE−SW line of the wall, and also projecting to SW. This portion of wall leans to NW and the projection to SW is breaking away; it is topped by a dense ivy bush. The NE wall has collapsed, except for the angles at either end. The gap in the middle (Wth c. 1.7m) has been roughly infilled with modern walling to height of c. 0.6m. There is a mural stone stairs in the SE angle, with at least three steps rising to SE. It is possible, therefore, that the break in the middle of the NE wall may have been the location of a doorway with the mural stairs opening off it. There is much loose rubble throughout, especially adjacent to the break in the NE wall, the stairs and at the break in the NW wall. The flat top (18-19m NE−SW; 12-14m) of the mound/platform (c. 30m NE−SW; c. 35m NW−SE; H c. 2-3m) on which the castle stands is barely wider than the castle on the NW−SE axis but extends c. 3.5m beyond the NE wall of the castle and 4-5m beyond the SW end. The NE and SW slopes of the platform are relatively steep (H 2.5-3m). The NW side has a more gradual slope, terracing down towards the bank of the stream, dropping c. 2m in height. The SW slope is also more gradual, but a portion (10m NE−SW; 7.5m NW−SE) of it has been quarried out to within a 2m of the castle –the quarry pit now partly filled with rubble. Sycamore trees grow on the mound at the N and S. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 4 August 2023