Friars Barn

On the brow of an E-facing slope with good views from E-SSE. A tower house (KK023-084----), ‘Annamult Castle’, is visible c. 100m to the N. On the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map a rectangular area, indicated as a small field, is annotated, ‘Friars Barn’ and on the 1947 revision it is indicated as a large building, with most of the N wall missing, annotated, ‘Friars’ Barn (in Ruins)’. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 373), the barn and ancillary buildings, ‘formed the monastic “Grange of Hanumolt,” which the Abbot of Graiguenamanagh was forced to surrender to the Commissioners of Henry VIII at the suppression of the Religious Houses’ in 1540. A long rectangular building (ext. dims. 33.6m E-W x 18.8m N-S) constructed of roughly coursed limestone rubble and mortar. Much of the external facing has been robbed, as have the quoins at the NE and SE angles. The ruinous ivy-clad remains consist of the W gable standing almost to full height, a length of the E end of the N wall (L 9m; H 1.2m), the S wall (H 2m) and the E gable (H 1.8m). A series of neatly executed, square apertures (int. dims. 0.23m x 0.2m; H above ext. ground level 1.2m), lintelled at head and base, are the only surviving features. These apertures, c. 1.2m apart, run through the thickness of the wall and occur in horizontal rows, with eight in the W gable, five in the E gable and nine in the S wall. The apertures may have functioned as putlog holes during the construction phase, however, since they appear to continue through the walls and, as the building functioned as a barn, it is more likely that they provided ventilation. Joist-holes at first-floor level in the W gable suggest the former existence of an upper level, perhaps a loft, at this end. The interior is strewn with collapsed masonry and is heavily overgrown. See attached photographs: KK023-022----_01 E end of S wall with holes through wall thickness KK023-022----_02 General view of building from the SW Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 July 2021