What is recorded here

Hollow House is a surviving castle bawn in County Offaly, its four circular angle towers and gun-looped wall dating from the seventeenth century. The castle itself is gone, but an early Georgian farmhouse still occupies the site, its back wall formed from the older bawn stone. The ornate round arched gateway with triangular pediment and spiral finials came later, probably shaped by the people already living beside the ruin. They did not leave the castle behind; they reused it, turning a military enclosure into a home and giving the hollow place a new life.

An early Georgian farmhouse is situated on the site of a castle of which only the bawn survives. The four circular angle towers along with part of the bawn wall appear to date from the seventeenth century. The round arched gateway with triangular pediment and spiral finials appear to belong to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth-century and were built after the castle was destroyed probably by the occupants of the ruinous farmhouse. The back wall of this cottage is part of the earlier bawn wall of 17th centurydate. Probable plantation castle (OF009-023----) of 17th centurydate with large rectangular bawn wall with four corner flanking towers. The wall and angle towers are defended with gun loops that provided flanking fire along the outer face of all four walls of the bawn. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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.