Castle McGrath

Termon McGrath Castle: The lands of Termon McGrath were granted to James, son of Archbishop Myler McGrath in 1610 (Hill 1877, 183-4). In 1611 Carew records that the 'Archbishop of Cashill hath begune a prittie castle at Termon Magragh w'ch he entends speedily to finish, havinge his materials ready at the place wher he meanes to buyld a bawne and finish the castle' (Hunter 1975, 82). In the campaign of 1649-50 Termon McGrath Castle was bombarded by Cromwellian troops and the N wall of the tower-house destroyed; it has remained a ruin ever since (Rowan 1979, 453). The ruins comprise a tower-house and bawn (DG105-014001-) sited where the Waterfoot and Termon rivers enter Lough Erne. The tower-house on the S side of the bawn is built of roughly coursed blocks and split stone rubble laid in mortar, and has ashlar quoins; the walls are battered to first floor-level. The building is of five storeys including attic, a rectangle 11.22m x 9.02m externally, with a circular tower at the NE corner which enclosed a wooden spiral stairs. All storeys were floored with timber, carried on scarcements at first and second-floor levels. The window embrasures on the ground and first floors are lintelled and have relieving arches, and those on the second and third floors have flat arches which were supported by wooden beams (now missing). The entrance is at ground level at the S end of the E wall; it has a pointed head and though the jambs have been partly broken away, sufficient remains to indicate that the entrance was rebated internally for a door and externally for a hinged iron grille, which was secured from within the tower by means of a chain passing through an angled hole in the N jamb. The door was further protected by a gun-loop at the apex of the head, which was served from the room above the entrance at first-floor level. Inside the door is a small mural lobby with remains of a murder-hole. The doorway to the ground-floor chamber has completely fallen and only sections of the W jamb survive. The ground-floor was defended by six rectangular horizontal windows 46cms x 18cms which retain sinkings for two vertical iron bars; the interior sill is sloped to enable access and manoeuvreability. Four survive intact in the S and W walls and the splayed ingoings of those in the N wall remain. The interior face of the E wall has collapsed but the surviving splayed ingoing beside, the NE tower indicates that there was a gun-loop in this position. There are two wall-presses in the angles of the NW and SW corners. There must have been some form of internal wooden stairs providing access to the first-floor, for the spiral stairs in the NE tower only begins at this level. This floor was lighted on three sides by rectangular windows with sinkings for two vertical bars set in embrasures with splayed ingoings; the floors of the embrasures are of large, split stone flags but much of the inner sections have fallen. There are indications for two windows in the N wall, and there was undoubtedly a third between them. The windows had wooden shutters reinforced with drawbars, and the two E windows in the S wall were further protected by gun loops below sill level. The floor of the window embrasure in the E wall, which preserves two sides of the murder-hole, is higher than the others due to the large ground-floor entrance. The stairway is entered by a pointed door; only the N half survives and retains the eye and pivot socket for the door on the inside. There is a mural-passage in the E wall with a wall-press at the S end; most of the inner wall has collapsed and only the relieving arch of the window in the outer wall survives. The bond holes for the treads and risers of the wooden stairs are visible in the wall of the tower. There are three gun-loops beneath the stairs and five others (two sets of two above one another) on the ascent to the upper storey. The stairwell was lighted by two windows with splayed ingoings and segment-headed rear-arches. The entrance to the second-floor was by a lintelled doorway which preserves the upper eye-stone for the door on the chamber side of the N jamb. This chamber was lighted by a three-light window in the W wall and at the W end of the S wall, and by a two-light window at the E end of the S wall and in the E wall; the exteriors have chamfered hood-moulds and the wooden shutters of the two former windows were secured with drawbars. There is a large central fire-place in the S wall which is partly reduced in width by blocking on the E side. Only the E jamb and the two elbow-like projecting stories survive; the latter kept the skew backs of the large mantel (now fallen) in position. There is a stairs built into the thickness of the NE angle. The stairwell entrance was lighted by a small square window in the W wall. The stairs originally had wooden steps but at some stage were partly blocked up. The N wall has completely collapsed; it may have had two windows. The main stairs in the tower has four gun-loops and two windows on the ascent to the upper floor. This third floor (not planned) was entered by a lintelled doorway and the chamber was lighted by two two-light windows in the S wall, a three-light, transomed window in the W wall and a two-light window in the E wall; all have hollow-chamfered hood-moulds. The E wall has a central fireplace which like that in the S wall on the second-floor was also reduced in width by blocking against the N jamb. The lintel and most of the inner wall of the flue have fallen. Beside the fireplace on the N there is a wall-press of equal height. Very little of the fourth or attic-floor remains. It has two fireplaces, one in the S wall and the other in the E gable. Access to the wall-walk was by a door, N of the latter fireplace. The E gable is crowned with a double square stack and there must have been a similar example over the two flues in the S wall. The wall-walk was protected by a battlemented parapet. The parapet is much ruined and oversails the wall faces, where it is provided with a bartizan at the SE corner and a machicolation along the W face with returns about the N and S corners. The machicolation is partly blocked by rainwater spouts. The defensive character of the tower-house is amply demonstrated by the iron grille, the entrance lobby with murder-hole, the numerous gun-loops and the way in which the stairway was capable of being sealed off from the inside at first-floor level and from the chamber side at second-floor level. The bawn (DG105-014002-) is roughly L-shaped in plan, the maximum dimensions being c. 27m x 27m; it is enclosed by a wall of roughly-coursed blocks and split stone rubble laid in mortar, and abuts the NE and SW corners of the tower-house. It was protected by two circular two-storey towers at the NE and NW corners; these were entered from the bawn by lintelled doorways with drawbar holes. They were fitted with gun-loops on both levels. Only the lower courses of the SE corner of the bawn wall remain. The E wall is c. 3m-4m in height and preserves indications for seven gun-loops. There is a splayed opening at ground level at the N end of this wall; its function is unclear. At the S end of the wall, opposite the tower, the wall is off-set 2.1m above present ground level which together with a corbel-like projection of mortared stones indicates a possible wall-walk or super-structure in this area. There are traces of a shallow fosse outside the E and SE bawn wall. The SW section of bawn wall is represented by footings. The W wall c. 2.5m-3.5min height has five gun-loops and had a small contemporary building near its S end; no visible trace of the E extent of this structure survives. The foundations of the N wall remain with traces of a central gate. A road, c. 4.3m wide and delineated by rubble blocks, leads N from the gate for c. 100m. 'Tarmon McGragh Castle & Towne' is marked on the Down Survey (1655-6) map of the Parish of Cam, Barony of Tyrehugh (1654-56). It appears that a small villag