Rahinnane Castle (in ruins) Hachured — Ráthanáin

National Monument No. 10045. Internal diam. 44m N-S, 37m E-W. A very substantial bivallate rath commanding the S side of Mám na Gaoithe, a pass through the low ridge (666 feet/205m) separating the crescents of low-lying land that surround Ventry and Smerwick Harbours. It is sited on a gentle E facing slope with a magnificent view across Ventry Harbour to the Iveragh peninsula. The defences may have been strengthened in the Medieval period when the site became the main stronghold of the FitzGeralds, Knights of Kerry. The tower house standing within the rath is probably 15th century in date and may have replaced an earlier structure. In the 14th century John FitzGerald (b. 1310), the second to receive the title, was described as 'of Rathane and Ennismore' (Ó Conchúir 1973, 86). In 1602 William FitzGerald was dispossessed of the 'Rahane, his chief manor house' (Pacata Hibernia, 167) by Charles Wilmot, but was pardoned and presumably restored a year later (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 31). The castle was destroyed during the Cromwellian period (Hitchcock 1855, 396), but the family remained in residence at the site until the early 18th century (McKenna 1979, 30). Grass-covered foundations immediately S of the castle may be the remains of domestic buildings associated with the castle. A souterrain opening from the base of the fosse probably relates to the earlier use of the site. Rath: The defences consist of 2 earthen banks, separated by a deep, wide fosse. The outer bank is the least substantial of the 2, rising from .6 to 2.5m above the external ground level and from 2 to 5m above the bottom of the fosse (on the accompanying plan this bank is noted only in the vicinity of the entrance). The fosse varies from 2.5 to 5.7m in width at base. The inner bank rises a maximum of 8m above the base of the fosse, but averages only 2.2m in height above the slightly raised interior. For much of its circuit, the outer bank has been reused as a field boundary fence and the section N of the entrance has been modified as a result. Intermittent stone-facing on the inner flank of the outer bank may be a later addition. There are 2 entrances to the interior, at NW and E. The latter faces downhill. The outer bank is disturbed in this sector and the gap through it is c. 12m wide. The fosse in this sector is on the same level as the external ground level and there is no trace of a causeway. The gap through the inner bank is 3.6m wide but is also somewhat disturbed. Low mounds are visible in the field immediately beyond this entrance but their origin is not clear. A sketch of the site as it was in 1854 (Hitchcock 1855) does not show any entrance through the banks at E, but this would appear to be an error. The NW entrance may be a secondary feature. There is no trace of a gap through the outer bank, but it was probably blocked when the bank was incorporated into the field boundary system. The causeway across the fosse is 2m wide across the top and is faced on either side with dry stone masonry. The latter remains to a height of 1.4m at the SW side. The gap through the inner bank is less than 1m wide. Souterrain (KE042-135004-): This opens off the base of the inner edge of the fosse, a little E of S, and is not now accessible. The almost circular, earth-cut mouth of the tunnel is 1.4m high x 1.5m wide, but narrows rapidly and slopes gently downwards as it extends under the inner bank. Hitchcock entered the souterrain in 1854 and noted that it extended far underground and branched off in several directions. All the passages were tunnelled out of the earth and no stonework was present. Rahinnane Castle (KE042-135002-): The remains consist of a rectangular tower house with a projecting turret at the E end of the N wall. The 3 storey keep, 14.15m x 9m externally, rises from a battered base, returned on all sides to a height of c. 2m. The W wall and greater part of the N and S walls stand to full height, but the E sector of the castle is represented solely by the shallow footings of the SE quoin. The projecting turret does not survive beyond the 2nd storey, but protruding bond stones above this level indicate that the feature was carried the full height of the castle. Large coherent masses of faced masonry, lying both inside and to the E of the castle, derive mainly from the collapsed E wall and the vault which covered the 1st floor. The walls are built of coursed rubble set in a sea-sand mortar, and the surviving quoins and dressings are of wrought sandstone. The lower 3m of the SW quoin is rebuilt and an equal section of the NW quoin has fallen. Entry to the ground floor chamber was by means of a doorway at the W end of the S wall; the opening now lacks its jambs and the segmental head is defaced. The door, slightly recessed from the exterior, was reinforced from within by a draw-bar passing beneath the sill of the adjacent window. A vertical slot, extending the full width of the arched entrance passage, probably housed a portcullis, served from the window embrasure on the 2nd floor. The rectangular doorway, now lacking its S jamb, which opened E off the passageway leads to a mural stair in the thickness of the S wall. The stair lobby was lit by a splayed lintelled ope, but the narrow light is now defaced and the sill has been broken away. The entrance passage communicated with the interior through a segmental arched doorway; the E ingoing has fallen and the W wall of the ground floor chamber is checked to accommodate a door which could be secured from within by a draw-bar. The main ground floor chamber was lit by narrow loops in the W, N and S walls. The splayed lintelled ope in the W wall is set in a rectangular embrasure with a segmental rear vault. The latter preserves impression of wicker centering on its soffit and the seating of the light timber framework on which this was raised can be seen. The N ingoing of the embrasure was fitted with a wall cupboard and there was a similar feature adjacent to it on the N wall. Raised ground level on the exterior, probably due to the collapse of the turret, largely occludes the narrow loop in the N wall. The ope now lacks its head and there is a gap in the wall here extending upwards to the springing of the 1st floor vault. The window was set in a splayed embrasure, its segmental rear vault now fallen. On the E ingoing of the embrasure, a narrow flight of steps ascends to the 1st floor of the turret. The narrow lintelled loop in the S wall of the chamber is now defaced externally and the main castle wall E of this is considerably reduced in thickness. The ground floor of the castle may have been divided internally by a cross wall, in effect a continuation of the E ingoing of this loop. Very little remains of the turret, and its E and N limits cannot now be traced above the collapse here. The surviving section of the ground floor consists of 2 chambers. The inner chamber, which was roofed by a segmental vault, now largely collapsed, appears to have been unlit and may have been a dungeon. Only section of the featureless W wall of the outer chamber survives. The 1st floor of the turret was similarly subdivided internally. A splayed lintelled ope in the W wall of the inner chamber debouches externally near the re-entrant angle of the tower, and probably doubly functioned to give light to the interior and musket cover to the N wall of the castle. A straight flight of roughly carved sandstone steps, in the thickness of the S wall of the castle, leads upwards to the 1st floor. The stair was ceiled by flat flags and the ascent was lit by a splayed lintelled ope, now defaced externally. Two similar opes illuminated the stair passage at 1st floor level; the westernmost has modern refurbished jambs. The flat head of the easternmost window has also been partly rebuilt. A doorway, which crossed the stairs immediately E of this window, has now fallen; the surviving draw-bar sockets indicate that the door could be secured from either side of the p