Liscarroll Castle (in Ruins) — Liscarroll

On a limestone outcrop, overlooking flat rolling countryside to the N; Liscarroll village immediately to the S. This castle consist of a quadrangular ward (c. 62m N-S; c. 50m E-W) enclosed by curtain walls (H c. 7m), with a circular flanking tower at each corner, a central gate tower in the S wall and rectangular towers projecting from the N and W walls; all stand to full height except the SE corner tower. It is built of rubble limestone, with a pronounced low base batter. Recent repairs are evident throughout the castle (see plan in Leask 1937, opp. 93). The castle was built by the Barrys, and was dated by Leask (1937, 92, 94) to the late 13th century, with subsequent 16th-century additions. It was acquired by Sir Philip Percival in 1625 and held until recent times by his descendants (ibid., 92). It was the site of several 17th-century battles (Grove White 1905-25, vol. 4, 28-9). The gate tower is a long rectangular structure projecting c. 2m from the external face of the curtain wall and c. 8.5m into the ward. The stairs tower at the NE corner, projecting from the E face of the gate tower, is entered from within the ward. The entrance passage (L 10.4m N-S; Wth 2.8m E-W) is roofed by a high barrel-vault with plank centering; there are slightly higher segmental vaults at either end, over the gates. On each side of the apex of the main vault is a row of four rectangular shafts (c. 0.25m x 0.2m) running obliquely up through the vault; their purpose is unclear; Leask (1937, 94) notes two and calls them 'murdering holes'. The position of the outer gate is marked by damaged vertical recesses (Wth 0.4m) on each side of the passage (1.56m inward from S face). There are also vertical recesses (Wth 0.2m) on each side of the passage (6.75m in from S face), with an E-W slot in the vault overhead, marking the position of portcullis. The passage walls, 8.55m from the S face, are set back creating a rebate for the inner gate. To the N of the latter, the original passage has been narrowed by a later infill with a lintelled door (Wth 0.95m) on the E side, a lintelled slit window to the W and a wider lintelled window above the door. The ground-floor door in the stairs tower leads from the castle ward to spiral stairs giving access to the 1st-floor chamber (9m N-S; 3.9m E-W) over the entrance passage. The S end of the chamber (3.4m N-S) is roofed by a barrel vault with wicker centering, above which is a small 2nd-floor chamber; both the 1st and 2nd floors are late-medieval additions. The 1st-floor chamber is entered from the stairs tower via a door at the N end of the E wall. The northern end of the chamber is now unroofed but the flashing for the gabled roof is visible on the N face of the turret. A round-arched window embrasure in the E wall has a double-ogee-headed light, and a central mullion missing; the arched window embrasure in the S wall has an identical light, with mullion, but the sill and lower jambs are missing. The window embrasure in the N wall has a single ogee-headed light. Mural stairs lead from the E ingoing of the latter embrasure to a small chamber at the top of the stairs tower, the upper levels of which have collapsed; a blocked ope in the N wall suggests a possible machicolation guarding the entrance to the stairs tower; the chamber may also have led into the wall walk. A rebuilt door at the N end of the W wall of the 1st-floor chamber must have led to a structure, now missing, within the ward. Doors at the S ends of the E and W walls lead to wall-walks on the S curtain wall; a door on the W side is set in a lintelled embrasure, from the N ingoing of which spiral stairs lead to pointed arch doors into a garderobe chamber (1.5m x 1.5m) to the S at mezzanine level, a 2nd-floor chamber to the E and a wall walk over the N part of the 1st-floor chamber; the stairs continue up to wall-walk level over the 2nd-floor chamber. The latter has a fireplace spanning the SE corner with a pyramidal hood tapering back into the corner at ceiling level. The window embrasures in the E and S walls have single round-headed lights; mural stairs lead from the W ingoing of the latter embrasure to a lintelled chamber (2m N-S; 1.5m E-W) above. Leask noted two sandstone heads on the S elevation of the gate tower at 1st-floor level on either side of the window; westernmost is now eroded and flush with the wall face, unidentifiable as a head; easternmost is also badly eroded, but appears to be an animal head. The rectangular tower (3.4m N-S; 8.3m E-W) projecting from the external face of the N curtain wall contains a shaft (1.3m N-S; 2.2m E-W) extending from ground- to wall-walk level; the section of the tower above this level appears to be a later addition. There is a wide breach in the interior wall at ground level, and it is uncertain if there was originally access to the shaft from within the ward. The function of the shaft is uncertain; it was possibly for '...hoisting munitions to the wall-walk level...' (Leask 1937, 93) or '...a large latrine...' (McNeill 1997, 139), though it has no exit chute. There is access to the shaft from the floor of the chamber at wall-walk level; the latter chamber (4.85m E-W; 2.9m N-S) is roofed by a barrel vault, and entirely re-pointed in recent times. Access to the chamber is via a lintelled door from the wall-walk on the W side; a narrow door on the E side is extensively rebuilt. The external stairs on the W side lead to the upper level of the tower. A single chamber (4.7m E-W; 3.2m N-S) at this level is unroofed; the walls have collapsed to c. 0.8m H; only traces of embrasures in the N and S walls remain. A ruined rectangular tower (4m N-S) projects 0.9m from the external face of the W curtain wall towards its N end; the outer (W) and inner (E) walls of the tower are badly collapsed; the chamber, now inaccessible, at the level of the 1st floor of the nearby NW corner tower may have been a garderobe; the chamber is roofed by a segmental vault with plank centring; there is a lintelled slit window in W wall. Broken projecting masonry at the S end of the same wall may be remains of a similar tower. The surviving corner towers are identical in style: each are three storeys high, entered at ground- and 1st-floor levels from within the castle ward; spiral stairs inside the 1st-floor door give access to the upper levels and wall-walks; tall narrow arrow loops (H 1.85m; Wth 0.08m) on the 1st- and 2nd-floor levels are set in wide embrasures spanned by plank-centred segmental vaults. External corbels near the top of the SW tower suggest a projecting parapet or machicoulis. Internal ground-floor diameters vary from 3m in the SW tower to 3.75 in the NW tower. What little survives of the SE flanking tower is now partially obscured by dumped rubble. According to Leask (ibid., 93), this contained a well. A Fosse (Wth 8.6m; D 2.1m) with external bank (H 0.65m) outside the N curtain wall and extending c. 30m S along the W wall probably represents the levelling of the high ground on these sides to prepare the site for the castle; it is not evident on the E side, where the ground slopes to the E. A rectangular area (c. 150m N-S; c. 165m E-W) adjoining the N side of the curtain wall is marked 'Hugard' on the 1937 OS 6-inch map (CO016-014001-); it is defined by a hachured fosse to the E, a drain to the N and a field fence to the W. There is a circular enclosure (CO016-014002-) in the NW quadrant of the rectangular enclosure. This is a National Monument in State Guardianship (no. 333) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. See attached photographs CO016-015001-_01: Aerial view of the castle from N. CO016-015001-_02: Exterior view of gate tower, from SE. CO016-015001-_03: Exterior view of SW tower and curtain walls from SW. CO016-015001-_0