Ballinskelligs Castle (in Ruins) — Baile An Sceilg

Ballinskelligs Castle / Caisleán an Sceilg: Very little historical information is recorded about this small tower house. It is located on the W shore of Ballinskelligs Bay, at the N end of a storm beach a short distance from Ballinskelligs Priory (KE097-036----). Reputed to be a MacCarthy castle, it is possibly to be identified as the manor which the Sigerson family occupied in Ballinskelligs in the early seventeenth century (Lynch 1902, 352). The history of the tower house appears to be closely linked to that of the nearby priory during the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Several references concerning the leasing and garrisoning of the latter are on record (Cal Car MSS 1569, 389; Fiants Eliz No's. 3339, 4992, 5982). At present ground level, this three storey rectangular tower house measures 10.35m NE-SW x 8.25m NW-SE externally. It rises from a battered base, returned to a maximum height of 7.65m at its S angle. Its walls are built of split stone laid in a strong, pebbly mortar with marine shell inclusions. The quoins, many of which are missing, are of dressed sandstone and are alternately face-bedded; the slightly undermined angles have recently been repaired. The majority of the window opes feature uncut surrounds, but the entrance retains most of its sandstone dressings. At each floor level the plan of the building consists of a main chamber with an adjoining mural passageway. The first and second floors are reached by a stair in the S angle of the building, which commences at ground floor level. The well-preserved entrance is at ground floor level and is located slightly off-centre in the SE wall. The doorway, of punch-dressed sandstone blocks, has a pointed head and is rebated internally for a door and externally for a hinged grille; the grille was secured from the mural chamber in the E angle of the building by a chain that passed through a narrow ope in the doorway's NE jamb. The door's upper and lower pivot-stones survive, and it was secured from within by a drawbar, the socket and channel for which are preserved. The entrance gives access to a small lobby that features a murder-hole, served from the bed of the first floor window embrasure. A small mural chamber, known as Seomra an Bhoduig (OSL), opens off the lobby at NE. Access is gained through a lintelled, trabeate doorway, and the chamber is ceiled by flags that rest on inwardly corbelled side-walls. The lobby communicates with the main ground floor chamber through a 'Caernavon type' doorway (Leask 1973, 24), the lintel of which is supported on two inwardly projecting corbels; the door was secured by a drawbar, for which both the socket and channel survive. The ground floor chamber measures 6.2m x 3.85m. It was lit by loops, centrally placed in the NE and NW walls, set in lintelled, rectangular embrasures with widely splayed ingoings. Wall-cupboards occur in the N, S and W corners. Access to the upper floors of the structure is gained by means of a mural stair, approached from the entrance lobby through a doorway which could be secured from within. The stair runs as a fairly straight flight to the building's S angle where it was lit by an ope, now a ragged gap externally, in the SE wall. From this level the stair ascends in a full turn to second floor level, where it was lit by a small, lintelled ope with splayed ingoings in the SE wall. At first floor level a passageway in the SW wall opens off the stair. Its side-walls are slightly corbelled and it was ceiled with lintels, only a few of which survive. It was lit by a small, lintelled ope which is fitted with a small slop-stone. The first floor chamber was entered through an internally rebated doorway at the NW end of the mural passageway. The door was secured from within by a drawbar, the socket and channel for which survive. The timber floor was laid on wall beams which were supported on tough corbels projecting from the NW and SE walls. The chamber was lit by windows in the NE, NW and SE walls. Two of these are set in wide, rectangular embrasures with angled ingoings. Their flat soffits retain traces of plank centring, and a centring hole is preserved in the SW jamb of the NW embrasure. The beds of the embrasures are slightly raised above floor level, and that at SE is fitted with window seats. It appears that this latter feature, and the large rectangular window opes, are secondary; the disposition of the plank-centring and the presence of a portion of a narrow ingoing in the SE embrasure suggest that the NW and SE opes were enlarged and rebuilt. They may have originally resembled the ope preserved in the NE wall which is narrow, has splayed ingoings, and is step lintelled; the soffit of the embrasure has collapsed, but traces of its plank-centring survive. A wall-cupboard is preserved in the E angle of this floor, and the walls at this level retain clear evidence of plastering. The walls of the building are greatly reduced in thickness at second floor level, where they rarely exceed .7m. Access is either by means of the stair which opens onto the S angle, or via an inserted flight of steps in the SE wall which ascends towards NE from a lower level of the stair. The floor of the chamber was probably laid on crossbeams supported on the offsets created by the reduction in wall thickness at this level. It was lit by loops with splayed ingoings in the NE, NW and SE walls, only the lower portions of which survive. The possible presence of a fourth loop is suggested by a ragged gap midway along the SW wall. A garderobe occurs in the NW wall, near the W angle, the chute of which delivered through a discharge ope directly below. There is no evidence for the form of the roof of the second floor of the building, and no section of the building above this level is preserved. The stair in the S angle does not continue upwards, indicating that access to roof level may have been by means of wooden steps from the second floor level. A series of beam sockets along the external face of the NW wall indicate the former existence of a structure here. That this was an addition is suggested by the fact that it would have blocked the ground floor window ope. The sockets may be support niches for press beams used in seventeenth-century pilchard curing stations. Sir William Petty is recorded as having established a fishery at Ballinskelligs during this time. Two early twentieth-century photographs of the castle (Crawford 1923, 199) show that a building formerly stood against its NE wall. This appears to have been of relatively modern date, as it is not noted in OSL and does not feature in the Lawrence Collection photographs of the site. Excavations were undertaken at the castle in 1988 and 1991, following the erosion of a large area of land at its S and E sides. The original ground floor, formed of large paving slabs, was revealed beneath a considerable build-up of storm material. Traces of two external lean-to structures with pitched-cobble floors, both of which post-dated the primary period of occupation of the castle, were discovered on its SE side. Most of the finds from the site were of post-Medieval date (Sheehan 1989, 20-1; 1992, 23). To see a 3D model of this monument visit: https://skfb.ly/6u8qC The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 1100. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 31 July 2013