Castle

In 1620 James McConell Farrall received a land grant, from the commission for the Plantation of Longford, which included the ‘castle, town and lands of Tenelick, with one water-mill’ (LF023-123003-) (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 481). A building, annotated ‘castle’, is depicted on the Down Survey (1655-6) map of Abbeyshrule barony (NLI, MS 719); the mill is shown to its W. In 1682 Nicholas Dowdall noted that ‘on the North side of this river [Inny] is Tineleeke … where was formerly an old castle’ (Gillespie and Moran 1991, 209). Lewis (1837, vol. 2, 309) refers to it as is ‘the ruin of a strong castle’. Its precise location has not been identified. ‘Tennalick House’ (LF023-123001-) may have been built on or close to its site. However, according to local tradition, the castle was converted into the corn mill, which is c. 160m to the SW of the house, by the McCanns (Egan 2005, vol. 2, 59). A black and white photograph from the early 1900s indicates that this was a large mill (ibid.). Only a small section now survives and while it appears to date mainly to the 18th century, some earlier cut-stone fragments (LF023-123004-) are incorporated in its fabric. Alternating long and short quoins stones with punch dressing of late 16th/17th-century appearance are visible on the SE angle. These may be from either the castle or the water mill. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 16 October 2012

James McConell Farrall received a land grant in 1620 that included the castle at Tennalick as part of the Plantation of Longford. The castle is remembered as an example of early 17th-century colonial settlement in Ireland.