Castle in Poulmarl

References to the castle of Taghmon date from 1548 when William Hore of Harperstown (WX041-024----) received a grant of the castle and some land at Taghmon (Hore, 1901-11, vol. 5, 420). It is situated on a gentle SE-facing slope within the town. The rectangular structure (ext. dims 10.85m N-S; 10.28m E-W) survives complete to the wall-walk and the walls have a base-batter and good granite quoins. A round-headed doorway (Wth 1.05m; H 1.7m) of undressed stone located towards the S end of the E wall is now permanently sealed. It is protected by a machicolation on the parapet, a portcullis and a destroyed murder hole in the lobby operated from an ante-chamber at the first floor. The lobby leads through a destroyed doorway to the ground floor (int. dims 5.55m N-S; 4.4m E-W) which had no embrasures but there is a double-splayed loop in the W and N walls and one gun-loop or spy-hole at the W end of the N wall. A mural stairs in the E wall gives access through a lintelled doorway (Wth 1m; H 1.85m) to the first floor under the N-S vault with windows in the N and S walls. There are corbels in the E wall and rebates on the other walls to support the floor, and a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.62m; H 1.9m) at the S end of the E wall leads to a chamber over the entrance lobby which commands the murder-hole to the lobby and also commands a murder-hole onto the stairs. The stairs continue in the E wall to the second floor (int. dims 6.4m E-W; 6.15m N-S) over the vault, which is accessed through a doorway (Wth 1.2m; H 2.5m) re-built in brick at the E end of the N wall. This floor has a rectangular window with seats at the S end of the E wall, and a large, destroyed fireplace at the centre of that wall. At the N end at floor level there is a small hole, which may be damage or a spy-hole onto the stairs. The S wall has a rectangular window at the E end, a central, blocked window and an alcove with a single gun-loop at the W end. A garderobe (int. dims 2.05m N-S; 0.8m E-W; H 2.05m) at the SW angle is accessed through a destroyed doorway in the W wall which also has a large central opening, probably from a destroyed window. There is an ante-chamber (int. dims 1.4m E-W; 0.8m N-S; H 2.05m) at the NW angle and a relieving arch under the stairs that rise in the N wall to the third floor. The ceiling is supported on corbels in the E and W walls. The third floor is entered through a doorway, rebuilt in brick (Wth 1.05m; H 2.35m), at the W end of the N wall and there is a broken-out cavity, possibly an oubliette or hidden chamber, at the E end of this wall. There is a window with seats at the S end of the E wall, while the S wall has a fireplace at the E end and a central window (blocked) with seats. The W wall has a garderobe at the S end and a central rectangular two-light window with a seats. From the lobby outside the doorway to the third floor a newel stairs rises in the NW angle of the building to access the fourth floor through a lintelled doorway in the N wall. An ante-chamber with a destroyed doorway at the E end of the N wall, may have accessed the oubliette on the floor below. The E wall has a window with seats at the S end while the S wall has a fireplace at the E end and a window with seats at the W end. A lintelled doorway at the S end of the W wall leads to a garderobe, and there is a double-light rectangular window with seats in the centre of the W wall. This floor was originally supported by four corbels in the E and W walls. The newel stairs continue to the parapet which does not survive but there are fragments of machicolations at the NW and SE angles.