Castle (Site of) — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Kilcowan Upper held a rectangular castle for the Keating family until men levelled it around 1825. Oliver Keating still owned it and 240 acres in 1640, but that much land and one small stone box leave a gap wide enough for wonder. The castle may have been a guard post, a household hall or a boundary marker for Keating power in Bargy. A stream still runs twenty metres west, carrying water past the place where walls stood.

Kilcowan in Bargy was held in wardship by Peter Keting in 1247 and in 1307 Nicholas de Keying held it by half a knight’s fee from the Bigod estate (Brooks 1950, 37). By the 16th century Kilcowan in Bargy seems to have passed to the Keatings of Kilcowanmore or Ballybrennan in Bantry (WX031-009----). According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) Oliver Keating owned the castle and 240 acres at Kilcowan in 1640 and a total of 755 acres in Kilcowan parish (Simington 1953, 157). The castle is depicted faintly as a rectangular structure (dim. c. 10m) on the 1839 ed. of the OS 6-inch map, and it is situated on a level, low-lying landscape with a NNE-SSW stream c. 20m to the W. John O'Donovan writing c. 1840 records that it was levelled c. 1825 (O'Flanagan 1933, vol. 2, 78). There is local knowledge of an area of rubble found when it was cleared of scrub. There are no visible remains at ground level. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 20 August, 2013

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.