Turret — Urlingford

On limestone outcrop on the S bank of the River Goul, with a fording pointing (KK012-001003-) immediately N-NE of the tower house (KK012-001006-) and bawn. The bawn encloses a tower house which is located in the NE quadrant. The medieval church (KK012-001002-) and graveyard (KK012-001009-) of Urlingford are located on the opposite bank of the river. There are settlement earthworks (KK012-001001-) surrounding the tower house and bawn and the church and graveyard. The modern town of Urlingford is c. 400m to the S. The Down Survey parish map of Urlingford (1655-6) depicts a castle and in the accompanying terrier, ‘Lord Mountgarrett, Ir[ish] pa[pist]’ is listed as the proprietor in 1640. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 364-5), in ‘the middle of the 17th century it was occupied by Captain Edward Butler (son of Richard, third Viscount Mountgarret, and grandson of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone), who was executed by the Cromwellians, in 1653’. A good portion of the trapezoidal bawn (H c. 3m; S wall T 1.23m; dims. N wall L c. 75m; E wall L c. 63m; S wall L c.50m; W wall L c. 65m) survives, enclosing an area of c. 1½acres. It is best preserved along the E side (upstanding L 19.6m), the SW angle with the S end of the W wall (L 18.5m), the W end of the S wall (L 20.3m), the NW angle and N end of W wall (L 13m), otherwise the wall is visible as foundations. There is evidence of an external fosse on the N and W sides and along the S side, though the latter has been recut as a field drain (Wth c. 2m) which continues westward beyond the bawn wall. There is a segmental-headed arched recess (Wth 1.73m; H 1.7m) roughly centrally placed in the E wall, it is not an entrance as there is no indication of an opening externally. The inner facing of the E wall has been robbed out. At the SE angle there are the ground floor remains of circular tower (overall diam. 3.8m) with two gun-loops, one facing E and one SE. Towards the W end of the S wall there are three openings, possibly associated with a building which appears to have occupied the SW angle (dims. c. 8m E-W; c. 5m N-S) at a later date. Towards the N end of the W wall, where the wall is broken out, there are the remains of a wall projecting internally which may be the remains of an entrance. At the NW angle there is a circular tower, two storeys high. Both the ground and first floor are accessed from the SE. The doorways to both floors have flat lintels, a door recess and door-hanging fixtures. It is defended by five gun-loops of which two, the S and SW, are blocked. Those facing N and SE are cross-loops and the E-facing example is a small rectangular horizontal gun-loop. The first floor rested on a wooden floor and has a corbelled roof. A low rubble wall extends eastward from the NW angle tower, on the line of the bawn wall, and later stone farm buildings have been built at the E end of the N wall. The NE angle of the bawn does not survive, with a later house and a former watermill occupying this area. The watermill may be a larger and later version of an earlier mill (KK012-001004-) outside the bawn. See attached photographs: KK012-001007-_01 E wall of bawn – exterior from E KK012-001007-_02 S wall of bawn with tower house, from SE KK012-001007-_03 recess in E wall of bawn – interior KK012-001007-_04 W end of S wall of bawn, interior KK012-001007-_05 S end of W wall, exterior from W KK012-001007-_06 N-facing gun-loop in NW angle tower, exterior Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 24 August 2022