Bawn in Knockkelly

On the summit of a hill, in hilly terrain. Knockkelly Castle (TS062-131001-) is located within the bawn, off-centre in the NE quadrant. There is a limestone quarry at the N end of the E wall, immediately beyond the bawn wall. A high, intact bawn (dims. 67m N-S; 75m E-W) built of limestone rubble, roughly coursed with well-cut quoins and a base-batter (H 2-4m; Wth 0.15-0.25m). The wall (H 6-7m; Wth 1.07m) is surmounted by a projecting course with capping above which has a rounded profile. The bawn is highest (7m) in the NE where the external ground level is lower, the wall reduces in height (6m) where it rises onto outcrop. There are small rectangular gun-loops at an average interval of 3.2-4.5m in all the walls, c. 4.7m above external ground level. These were accessed internally from a wall-walk (Wth 0.85m). There are the remains of a bartizan at the NE and SW angle, both with possible gun-loops, and angle towers project out from the SE and NW corners. The angle towers are similar, the SE tower has seven gun-loops at both ground and first floor level, with a fireplace and two flat-headed single-light windows at first-floor level, while the NW tower has nine gun-loops at ground-floor level but otherwise has the same features. Within an internal niche (H 1.93m; Wth 0.64m; D 0.96m) at ground level in the bawn wall, immediately E of the NW tower, there is a small garderobe, the chute (L 1.65m) of which exists externally. Some 19m S of the NW angle tower a slop-stone projects out (D 0.37m) 1.1m above the base of the wall externally. Internally there is no indication of this feature as it is below the level of the present internal ground surface. The original entrance to the bawn was mid-way along the S wall where there is a gatehouse (ext. dims. 5m E-W; 4.55m N-S; ext H 2.85m). In the 18th or 19th century this gatehouse was incorporated into the E end of a house, the front wall of which utilised the exiting bawn wall. According to the OS Letters the gatehouse had an arched entrance, now blocked up, and ‘On the top part are the remains of a century box’ (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 160 (457)). The gatehouse, now a small room, (int. dims. 3.36m N-S; 2.65m E-W; E and W wall T 1.15-1.2m; H 2.85m) had an opening 2.65m wide. The ground-floor room has a flat ceiling with no visible evidence of the original archway. There is a room (int. dims. 2.5m N-S; 3.08m E-W; wall T 1.05m; H 2.73m) above this which may have been built into the space under the original arched opening. At the top of the W wall of this room, the wall slopes internally, perhaps a springer for the original arch. In the 18th/early 19th century an arched entrance (Wth 2.46m) was inserted in the E wall of the bawn, 25m N of the SE angle tower. The bawn is currently entered through a gateway (Wth 3.4m) broken through the S bawn wall, 5.63m E of the gatehouse. There is also an inserted doorway (Wth 0.85m) in the S wall 20m E of the SW angle. The large number of gun-loops suggest that the bawn is contemporary with the late 16th/early 17th-century phase of occupation.