House — 16th/17th century in Gragan West

Partially built on the line of the N wall of a bawn (CL005-088003-), with the bawn running to the S and also enclosing a nearby towerhouse (CL005-088001-), c. 5m to the W. Only the N gable wall (L c. 7.5m; H c. 5m) of a likely late-16th/17th century house was upstanding and contained a fireplace and a squat, square chimney flanked by a pair of narrow windows on each side. It has since been incorporated into a modern two storey house which stands to the S. In 1994, archaeological excavation (Lavelle D. Excavation Licence No. 94E0151; 1994:017; www.excavations.ie) in advance of the modern house’s construction revealed the foundations of the opposite, S gable wall of the late medieval house, described by the excavator as ‘comprising mainly of loose stone and decayed mortar’. A fragment of a 15th century window was also found. While the structure post-dates the towerhouse, the excavator noted that while the towerhouse was built onto the bawn wall line, the E end of the medieval house’s N gable wall and the N end of the bawn’s E wall appeared to respect one another which suggested, to him, that the bawn had been knocked and partially rebuilt prior to the construction of the medieval house. See attached document: CL005-088002-_01 Details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report).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