Coola Castle (in Ruins) — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Coola Castle is a ruined bawn in County Sligo where a four-metre limestone wall still stands on a slope break, pierced by eight gun loops but lacking door or window openings. Local tradition claims the MacDonaghs built it, yet the missing entrances suggest a martial storehouse rather than a home. The intact eastern wall and sparse returns preserve the shape of a rectangular defence that has lost its interior life.

In pasture, on a break in slope in undulating terrain. Indicated as a rectangular structure on the 1838 OS 6-inch map but only the E wall (int. L 13.4m; T 1.2m), with returns of the S (int. L 6.15m) and N (int. L 0.7m) walls, now stand. The wall is of uncoursed limestone and stands to a uniform height (H c. 4m) over most of its length but much of the inner facing stones are missing. At ground-floor level, the wall is pierced by eight irregularly spaced gun loops: five in the E wall and three in the S wall. These have a plain rectangular front opening (H 0.25m; Wth 0.1m) behind which the embrasure is splayed (Wth on inside face c. 0.5m) and covered by stepped lintels. The absence of door and window opes suggests this may be the remains of a small bawn; Moygara Castle (SL044-052001-) has a much larger bawn that is pierced by gun loops in a similar fashion. According to local tradition, this is the remains of a castle built by the MacDonaghs (ITA). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Date of upload: 18 January 2008

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