Killoshulan Castle, County Kilkenny (KK009-056001-)

On raised ground built into an E-facing slope in undulating terrain. In woodland which obscures the views. There are very good views to NE-E and good S of hills on opposite side of valley but limited to the W by the rise in slope. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 259) the castle of Killoshulan was forfeited by the Shortalls under Cromwell and ‘Edmund Butler, brother of Lord Galmoy lived here in the 17th century; he was slain at Aughrim in 1691’. Though Carrigan (ibid.) suggests that the present tower house was too small to be the main castle, it has all the features associated with a tower house and was protected by a bawn (KK009-056002-). Only a length (38m) of bawn wall survives, c. 40m to the SE of the tower house, running NE-SW. A three-story circular tower house (ext. diam. c. 6.4m) built on bedrock, constructed of limestone rubble roughly coursed, with good survival of harling externally. The walls are gradually battered towards the base. The tower house is entered through a pointed doorway facing E. The doorway was protected by a yett or metal grille, as evidenced by a yett-hole in the S external rebate and by a machicolation at parapet level, though only the supporting corbels survive. On the external rebate there is a latin inscription incised around the head of the doorway. The inscription is in lower case antiqua script, a form which dates from the 15th century. Only the first part of the inscription is legible, it reads: omnium fert aetas castell[um]….. The lobby area is broken out internally, but it was protected by a murder-hole overhead and there are the remains of a recess to the N, perhaps for a guard. The ground floor chamber (diam. 3.2m; H 2.5m) was entered from the lobby. It is lit by three flat-headed single-light windows in the N, SW and NW. The upper floors were reached from a mural stair which rises from the entrance lobby along the SE wall. The stair (Wth 0.62-0.74m) is lit by a number of narrow loops, though between ground and first-floor level there is a rectangular gun-loop. The first floor, which has a corbelled vaulted roof, was entered through a partially broken out flat-headed doorway. It rested on a wooden floor which no longer survives. The first-floor chamber was lit by two narrow flat-headed windows, facing E and NW respectively, with some light also provided by the loop in the outer wall of the stair, when the door was open. There is a loop similarly placed opposite the entrance to the second floor, though the doorway is completely broken out and has been partially reconstructed. Unusually the garderobe chamber, which is very small, is situated at the top of the stairs, just beyond the entrance to the second floor. Within the gardrobe chamber there is a slop-stone with narrow loop overhead which splays towards the base and there is a narrow rectangular loop in the external side wall above the garderobe chute, which exits in the N face. The second floor chamber (dims. 3.3m x 3.7m; H 2.88m) is lit by three windows, facing roughly N, E and S, all have been broken out and the E and S have been widened, the arch of the E embrasure has been repaired with brick. There is a small, low wall-cupboard in the SE face. In the W portion of the wall there is a flat-headed entrance to a small lobby, lit by a cross-loop, which gives access to a very narrow (Wth 0.4m) mural stair to parapet level. See attached photographs: KK009-056001-_01 E face KK009-056001-_02 Detail of entrance doorway in the E face KK009-056001-_03 Mural stair KK009-056001-_04 Cross-loop at second-floor level - interior Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 1 August 2018