What is recorded here

Stokestown Castle is a three-storey tower house on the River Barrow floodplain where the Dormer family turned a 1582 lease into ownership and built a watermill beside their fair castle. Nicholas Dormer still held fifty acres and the castle in 1641, while Jos. Deane inhabited the tower in the 1830s and people may have lived there into the 20th century before vacancy. The tower now sits inside a later courtyard, its blocked lights and plain walls preserving less spectacle but more continuity: a merchant family made a river landmark and kept it across centuries of change.

According to Jeffrey (1979, 212-3) the castle of Stokestown was leased by the Prendergasts of Ballyfarnoge (WX039-049----) to George Dormer, a New Ross merchant, in 1582, but the Dormers became owners. According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) Nicholas Dormer, an Irish papist, owned 500 acres and a ‘faire castle’ at Stokestown in 1641 as well as a watermill and a weir (Simington 1953, 203). The tower was inhabited by Jos. Deane in the 1830s (Lewis 1837, vol. 2, 715), and it was probably occupied into the 20th century, although it is now vacant. The tower house is located at the junction of the gentle W-facing slope of a low hill with the flood-plain of the N-S River Barrow/Nore, with the river c. 530m to the W and a W-E section of the river c. 680m to the N. It is now built into the S range of an 18th or 19th century courtyard. It is a tower (ext. dims. 7m E-W; 6.6m N-S) of three storeys without base batter, vault or dressed quoins surviving to the stepped crenelations. It is entered by a lintelled doorway towards the E end of the N wall. All the internal walls are inserted and there are few original features apart from some blocked lights, and a large mullion and transom window with square hood-mouldings on second floor (now blocked). There is no evidence of wall chambers or of a mural stairs. Nor is there any evidence of wall-plates to support the ceilings. See the attached section from the Down Survey (1656-8) parish map (N at top) reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (Ms 725) 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: 14 September, 2012

The castle at Stokestown was originally held by the Prendergast family in the late 16th century and later came under the ownership of the Dormer family, who were prominent local merchants. It is remembered for its role in the landholding and economic history of the region during the Tudor period.

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