What is recorded here

Fifty paces east of Rathgormuck castle, a vaulted stump with six-foot walls stood twelve feet high when J. O'Donovan measured it in 1838. It may have been a corner tower of the bawn rather than a separate castle, but it disappeared beneath farm sheds before anyone recorded its purpose. The missing chamber still suggests itself through the main tower, waiting for a hand to complete what the ground forgot.

Described by J. O'Donovan c. 1838 as the stump of a castle c. 50 paces E of Rathgormuck castle (WA003-039001-) (O'Flanagan 1929, 36). He described it as ' twelve feet high, and measuring twenty nine feet eight inches by 24 feet with walls about six feet thick' (dims. c. 12m x c. 7.5m).' It still had a vaulted roof. There is no other evidence of this castle, and the location is now occupied by farm sheds, but it may have been a corner tower of the bawn (WA003-039003-) associated with the tower house (WA003-039001-). O'Flanagan, M. (Compiler) (1929) Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Waterford collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1841. Typescript. Bray. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 16 November 2011

Rathgormuck Castle was likely built by the MacMurrough Kavanagh family, Gaelic chieftains of Leix (now part of County Laois), during the late medieval period. It is remembered as an example of a Gaelic Irish ringwork castle and for its historical association with local power struggles during the 15th and 16th centuries.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.