Ballymalis Castle (in ruins) — Ballymalis

National Monument No. 364. In level pasture, on the N bank of the Laune River, adjacent to a fording point across the river. A four-storey rectangular tower (14.8m E-W; 9.8m N-S) standing to full height but missing its battlements. Extensive repairs were carried out in the 1940s by the OPW, especially at the corners which were badly undermined (see photograph in Barrington 1976, 59). Built of uncoursed limestone in a lime mortar, the external wall faces retain much of the original harling. The tower is entered through a central ground-floor doorway in the E wall. The cut-limestone door-surround has a pointed arch and a chamfered edge. The frame is recessed to take a yett whose chain hole is through the N jamb. A stile has recently been set into the doorway. Both the lobby inside and the porter's room on its N side have been largely rebuilt by the OPW. A doorway on the S side of the lobby gives access via a short lintelled passage to the main ground-floor chamber and to the base of the spiral stairs which rises in the SE corner of the tower. The ground-floor chamber (8.2m E-W; 5.9m N-S) is lit by opposite windows in the centre of the N and S walls. The S window has a single round-headed light and a splayed and lintelled embrasure; the N window is badly damaged but appears similar. The lower part of the spiral stone stairs is rebuilt by the OPW but is original from the first-floor upwards; it spirals clockwise. The main first-floor chamber is entered from the stairs via a door with a pointed arch. Three windows light the room: one in the centre of the N and S walls and the third near the N end of the W wall. The S window has a single flat-headed light. The embrasure is splayed directly behind the light and then widens on the inside to a larger square-set space. Both sections are lintelled. The N and W windows were probably similar but both are rebuilt by the OPW as is the fireplace in the centre of the W wall. Also at first-floor level is a mural chamber in the W wall, directly above the entrance lobby. This chamber is entered directly from the spiral stairs. It was covered by a wicker-centred segmental vault, now almost entirely gone. A single window in the E wall, with a single flat-headed light, lights the room. The main second-floor chamber is entered from the spiral stairs through a door with a pointed arch. As on the floor below there is a single window in the S, N and W walls, all three similar in design to those below. There is a fireplace in the N wall which has a large lintel across its opening. A door in the W wall gives access to a mural chamber similar to the one directly below except its covering vault is intact. In both the NE and SW corners of the main chamber is a door, with a pointed arch, leading to a narrow passage that gives access to a corner bartizan. The third-floor chamber (no mural chamber at this level) is entered through a doorway, at its SE corner, from the top of the spiral stairs. The stairs leading up to the wall-walk is positioned just inside the chamber, to the N of the doorway. The room is lit by six windows: one each in the E and W walls and a pair each in the S and N walls. These are similar to those on the floors below save for the two near the W end of the N and S walls. These have triple ogee-headed lights with a mullion division and a hood-moulding. The spandrels of the N window are decorated with motifs carved in shallow relief including a bird and leaf patterns. The two bartizans are identical, projecting slightly beyond the wall faces and carried by five tapered corbels with the central one on the corner. The central corbel on the SW bartizan has a carved floral motif on either face. The walls are pierced by gun loops (see drawing in Barrington 1976, 217). Ballymalus Castle was built in the 16th century by the Ferris family who were 'guardians of the line of the Laune' (ibid., 218). In 1656 Murrogh McOwen Ferris was the proprietor, but the property was confiscated and passed to the Eagars shortly afterwards (Bary 1994, 38). In the 1840s a dwelling house (or the ruin of one) abutted the tower on its western side (OSL, 196-7) but there is now no trace of this structure. Nor is there any trace of the 'trench or moat [KE057-076002-] surrounding [the] castle' which was described in the 1940s (Schools Manuscript, Co. Kerry). Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork. Date of upload: 31 January 2011