Cregganna Castle (in ruins) — Cregganna More

In an elevated position in an area of pastureland and mixed woodland. In existence in 1574 when 'Kragane' castle was in the possession of 'Walter Mcffregha' (Nolan 1901, 113). According to Holt (1911-12, 239-40), it was inhabited until the 18th century by which time it had been much altered and modernised. When he visited it the tower house stood three-storeys high but was unroofed. The W gable was intact but the top half of the E gable had fallen. The upper NE and NW corners of the walls were much ravelled as also were the foundations at these corners. A base-batter rising to a height of c. 2.7m was evident. A rebated pointed arched doorway in the E wall accessed a small lobby off which similar arched doorways lead to the spiral staircase in the S corner and the main ground-floor room to the W. The doorway to the guardroom to the N was square headed. An ope in the W wall of this room looked into the main room. No windows were evident in the latter room. The upper rooms comprised a subsidiary chamber above the doorway with the main rooms to the W; all were accessed off the spiral stairs. There was a vault between the 1st and 2nd floors. Fireplaces were visible on the 1st and 2nd floors, the latter, in the W wall, had been modernised. Surviving windows comprised single-light ogee-headed opes in the N and E walls on the 1st floor and in the E wall on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Larger opes in the N and S wall on the 3rd floor probably housed mullioned windows. A blocked-up round-headed window was visible in the W gable. The staircase was lit by two square-headed slits in the E wall and two modern opes in the S wall. The garderobe exit chute was visible towards the W end of the N wall (ibid.). A survey by the Irish Tourist Association in 1944 noted that only a few steps of the spiral stairs remained and none of the floors of the subsidiary chambers survived (Topgr. files, NMI). A later report dated 1956 (Topgr. files, UCG) noted that the internal dividing wall between the subsidiary chambers and the main rooms narrowed in width from the 2nd floor up. The floor of the subsidiary chamber at this level was carried on joists that were inserted into the E wall and a ledge in the W wall that resulted from reducing the thickness of the dividing wall. A doorway in the latter wall connected the two rooms. A number of the spandrels of the ogee-headed windows were decorated and a number of the pointed arched doorway noted by Holt (1911-12, 239-40) had been removed. Two coats of plaster were evident on the walls of the main room on the 2nd floor. At that time the main ground-floor room was being used as a store/byre. There was a breach in the N wall and a modern wooden door and frame had been inserted in the original doorway of this room; a drawbar-slot was noted on one side of the main entrance doorway. Stonework had been removed from the SW corner and the W gable was covered with ivy. When visited by the Galway Survey in February 1983, the tower house was fully restored and occupied (SMR file). Access was not gained. Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 1 October 2021