Tower (in ruins) — Ballymount Great

A gatehouse stands at the entrance to the 17th century manor built by Sir William Parsons, Surveyor General of Ireland in 1622. A boundary wall runs up to the SE corner of the tower but is not bonded to it. It is a square tower which rises to two storeys with battlemented parapet (Int dims. L 6.3m; Wth 6.3m, T 0.6m). Built of coursed limestone masonry with some dressed stone in the arches on the E and W sides. The elliptical arched entrance passage is off-centre and occupies most of the ground floor. There is a small chamber S of the entrance passage which is lit by two slit loops and is defended by a gun loop in the N wall. The joist holes for the first floor are visible. The upper chamber above the gate contains a fireplace in the NW corner. This level was originally reached by a stair, the only indication of which is the absence of plaster in the S end of the upper chamber (Mc Dix 1898, No. 914, 9, 19). Lit by large plain windows in E and W walls with smaller opes on N and S sides. In general this building appears to have been an insubstantial fortification, relying on gun loops to provide security rather than wall thickness. Compiled by Geraldine Stout