
What is recorded here
Half-buried in woodland near Corkscrew Hill, Gragan West still wears its gun loops and four-metre limestone walls. A tower house and a later gable wall grew directly from the bawn, as if the fortress had exhaled into domestic life. The east and south edges have surrendered to rubble, but the north and west lines remain sharp enough to suggest a room large enough for a hall, a kitchen, or a small defiant world.
In woodland near the N-foot of Corkscrew Hill. Indicated on both the first edition (1842) and later, Cassini edition (1916) of the OS 6-inch map. A rectangular bawn (32.7m N-S; 23m E-W; H 4m) built of uncoursed limestone rubble. The N and W walls stand to full height (H 4m; T 1.5m) and are surmounted by a parapet (Wth 0.5m) with narrow gun loops. The locations of the E and walls are indicated by intermittent sections of walling and collapsed mounds of rubble. A tower house (CL005-088001-) and the gable end of a late-16th/17th century house (CL005-088002-) are partially built on the N wall of the bawn and steps are built into the inner face of the bawn wall just W of the tower house. The late-16th/17th gable was subsequently incorporated into a modern house.
In 1994, archaeological excavation (Lavelle D. Excavation Licence No. 94E0151; 1994:017; www.excavations.ie) in advance of the modern house’s construction revealed largely disturbed stratigraphy but did uncover the foundations of the S gable wall of the late-16th/17th century house (CL005-088003-), shell, bone and a fragment of a fifteenth century window. The excavator noted that while the tower house was partially built onto the bawn wall, the E end of the late-16th/17th century house’s N gable wall and the N end of the bawn’s E wall appeared to respect one another. Consequently, he suggested that the bawn had been knocked and partially rebuilt prior to the construction of the late-16th/17th century house.
See attached document: CL005-088003-_01: Details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report). Uploaded courtesy of R. Ua Cróinín and M. Breen.
Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Ros Ó Maoldúin
Date of upload: 24 January 2023
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- What survives
- Recorded monument
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