Fraine Castle

Situated on a gentle E-facing slope. According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) Edward Scurlock of Frane in Athboy parish owned 312 acres there in 1640 and the property included ‘two waste castles and a hall and a quarry, and some cottages’ (Simington 1940, 209). He also owned 225 acres in Drissoge and 228 acres in Dirlangan in the same parish (ibid. 212). This is a four-storey rectangular structure (ext. dims 7.4m E-W; 6.3m N-S), but most of the S part of the monument does not survive. It has an E-W barrel vault over the ground floor where the only other features are a light towards the W end of the S wall and breaks in the N and W walls. Only the ivy-covered N wall and the adjacent portions of the W and E walls survive with a garderobe at the NW corner, a fireplace in the centre of the N wall and a window with seats at its E end. There is a fragment of a window with a seat in the W wall. Corbels to support the ceiling are missing from the N wall and the E and W walls are recessed. The pattern is repeated at the second floor, except that there is no fireplace in the N wall and the corbels are also missing from the N wall. The third floor has a window without a seat at the W end of the N wall, a light at its E end, and the N sides of embrasures in the E and W walls survives although the parapet does not. Just 5m E of the tower house is the outline of a building (ext. dims 21.8m E-W; 9.5m N-S) defined by wall footings. A scarp runs E (L 25m) from its NE angle, then turns N (L c. 65m) and W (Wth c. 5m; H 0.3m; L c. 40m) as a bank with inner and outer ditches (Wth 4-5m; D up to 0.6m) to meet a N-S road bank. These features could describe a bawn around the tower house. East and S of these features there are further fields (ME029-018----) covering an area of about 9 acres (c. 3.5 ha). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 28 June 2016

Edward Scurlock of Frane owned Fraine Castle in the mid-17th century, as recorded in the Civil Survey of 1654–56. The castle is remembered for its inclusion in historical land records and as part of the local estate landscape during the early modern period.