What is recorded here

Moone Castle rises four storeys above the River Greese, its uncoursed limestone rubble casting long shadows across the water. A murder hole still guards the eastern entrance, watching for threats that may never come. The dovecote has swallowed the second floor, forcing life upward through narrow stairs and ogee windows. What remains is a house half-built by people and half-finished by time, keeping its shape on the bank while forgetting most of its name.

A four storey structure of uncoursed limestone rubble (dims 8.4m N-S x 8.1m E-W; H 15.3), with several dressed quoins in the NW corner. The batter on the N and W sides blocks two loops, and a possible entrance (in the N wall). The entrance in the N end of the E wall has a murder hole, and opens into a chamber (dims 4.5m N-S x 3.5m E-W) roofed with a pointed vault, which has several wall cupboards. The stairs to the first floor are in the E wall, and double back in a lintelled corridor at first floor level. They are lit by rectangular slits. The N wall has rectangular splayed loops. A dovecote has been built into the tower house, and access to the main chamber on the first floor is now via a hole broken through the lintelled corridor. This floor has ogee headed windows, and similar windows light the stairway to the third floor (the dovecote has completely blocked access to the second floor), which has a stone arched fireplace. Access to the parapet is via the stairs in the S wall. The tower house is situated on a slight rise overlooking the River Greese. (Bradley et al. 1986 vol. 3, 328-331)

Built in the 14th century, Castle Moone was constructed by the Moone family, a prominent local Gaelic dynasty in west County Kilkenny. It is remembered as a symbol of their territorial influence and resistance during the English colonial expansion in Ireland.

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