Pallas Castle (in Ruins) — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Pallas Castle stands as a ruined tower house inside a massive circular earthwork on a ridgeline above a lake in County Offaly. The site may have begun as an ancient fort for the Molloy's before becoming a medieval defensive bawn, though only the southwest corner of the stone tower still rises visibly from the grass. The lake guards the southern approach while the earthen banks and ditches circle the platform like a forgotten promise of protection. What remains is enough to imagine hands shaping soil and stone along this exposed ridge, but the names and dates of those builders have faded from the land itself.

Situated on S facing slope of a high ridge running E-W, a lake protects the S side of the site which has good views to the S, E and W. This site consists of a circular platform (diam. 70m E-W) defined by an earthen bank which is evident at W only with two wide flat bottomed fosses (Wth 3m; int. H 0.5m; ext. H 2m) with high intervening earthen bank (int. H 3m; Wth 1m). The outer defences of the site have been greatly altered on the N and E sides while the lake provides a natural defence at S. Causeway entrance (Wth 3m) at W. In the centre of the platform are the ruins of a tower house (OF024-015001-) with only the SW corner surviving to any height with wall footings elsewhere. No architectural features evident. This site may originally have been a large bivallate ringfort with later medieval tower house built in the centre due to its defensive location on the side of a lake. It has been suggested by Shaw that this earthwork was the ancient fort of the Molloy's (Shaw 1971. 36). Alternatively the enclosure may have been built as a contemporaneous defensive earthwork or bawn protecting the medieval tower house. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 29 December 2011

Pallas Castle is believed to have been built in the 17th century by the Butler family, a prominent Irish noble lineage. It is remembered for its strategic location and as an example of early modern Irish castle architecture.

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