Castle — tower house in Clashmelcon

Browne's Castle was possibly built by the pirate Browne family in the mid-15th century. Very little now remains of the castle, which is situated within an earlier promontory fort (KE009-024001-). All that can be seen today is a section of the N wall, c 3.7m long, which is situated right on the edge of the fosse. At the NE angle of the wall are the remains of what would appear to be a spiral staircase in a round turret. Westropp (1909) found much more of the castle surviving, and he writes of a strong batter, but with the foundations of the walls crumbling it is impossible to note this feature. The door was to the N and slightly raised off the ground, with a vault and a murder hole in the porch. He also states that the castle had three storeys and that there was a vault over the second floor. He was also able to see the spiral staircase and porter's lodge on the ground floor. The lodge was vaulted and lit by two splayed loop-holes, with recesses and lintelled head. According to Westropp the staircase led only to the first floor, where it changed direction towards the NW angle. The ground floor had a large window to the S and some other deeply recessed window loops. The upper floor rested on rude stones and plain rounded corbels. The vault was somewhat rounded with wicker centering. Hickson (1841) remarks on a side wall extending along the fosse, but Westropp could find no trace of it in 1909; the castle has deteriorated a great deal more since then, and today there is no sign of any windows, doors, floors, or vaults. The above description is derived from C. Toal, ‘North Kerry Archaeological Survey’. Dingle. Brandon in association with FAS Training and Employment Authority (1995), no. 1002. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 3 August 2013