Clara Castle — Clara Upper

On level ground in a small river valley with a stream running roughly N-S c. 100m to the E. The view is restricted E by Grange Hill and to the N by Oliver’s Hill. There is a good view elsewhere with Freestone Hill visible to the SE. The castle was built by the Shortall family who were associated with Clara Upper since the 13th century (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 357). In 1596 Nicholas Shortall resided at Clara Upper and following his death in 1600 it was inherited by his brother Patrick and thence, upon his death in 1628, to his son Oliver Shortall (ibid. 357-8). The Shortall family appear to have been in their possession until sometime before 1642 (Leask 1937, 284). Following the Cromwellian grants it was occupied by Henry Johnson and then succeeded by the Byrne family who lived there until the beginning of the 19th century (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 359). It was still inhabited in 1905 (Leask 1937, 284). It was vested in the Commissioners of Public Works by the Irish Land Commission and a thorough repair was carried out under Leask’s supervision in 1929 (ibid.). In the main chambers at 1st, 2nd and 3rd–floor level there are timber floors, with substantial oak beams surviving, resting on wall-plates supported on corbels on the E and W walls. There is a pointed stone vault supporting the 4th-floor level. Dendrochronological dating of two beams at 1st-floor level provided precise felling dates of spring 1523, one beam at 2nd-floor level provided an estimated felling dates of 1524 ± 9 years with a second beam at 2nd-floor level providing an estimated date of 1545 ± 9 years (Brown 2007). These dates, plus the stylistic evidence of the architectural features, provides a construction date in the early 16th century. The tower house was modified in the late 16th/early 17th century as described below. A five-storey tower house (dims. 9.95m above base-batter N-S; 8.2m above base-batter E-W; wall T 1.75m) built of roughly coursed limestone rubble, with a base-batter (H 2.55m; Wth 0.18m). The parapet, with stepped crenellations, is in good condition. On the N side, protecting the entrance, there is a very small bawn (KK020-003001-), described by Leask (ibid.) as a forecourt. The tower house is entered on the N side through a pointed doorway which is defended externally by a machicolation at parapet level. The doorway leads into to a lobby which was likely protected by an overhead murder-hole in the wooden floor of the N 1st-floor chamber, though this wooden floor does not survive. To the W of the lobby a flat-headed doorway opens into a small guard-room with no window and to the E there is a pointed doorway giving access to a short mural stair leading to a spiral-stair which rises in the NE angle to all the upper levels. The stair is lit by simple loops, except between ground and 1st-floor level where there is a cross-loop in the E face. The main ground-floor chamber is entered via a pointed doorway opposite the main doorway. It is lit by three round-headed single-light windows within straight-sided embrasures, one in each of the E, S and W walls, all splaying externally with the base-batter. At 1st -floor level there is a small chamber over the entrance lobby, entered from the spiral stair and lit by two windows, one in the N wall and one in the W wall. This arrangement continues at 2nd and 3rd –floor level, each resting on a timber floor supported by corbels in the N and S walls, with a pointed vault over the 3rd –floor chamber. The 2nd-floor chamber differs from that above and below in that it is accessed from the main 2nd-floor chamber rather than from the spiral stair and it has an additional window in the form of an NW angle-loop. The main 1st-floor chamber, entered via a pointed doorway, was lit by three windows, a single-light ogee-headed window in the E and W wall and another window in the S wall which has been broken out and replaced by a crude flat-headed window. A brick fireplace with a crude wooden lintel has been inserted into the embrasure of the E window. There is a wall-cupboard at the E end of the S wall and at the N end of the W wall. The main 2nd-floor chamber, entered via a pointed doorway, is lit by two windows, a round-headed single-light window at the N end of the E wall and a two-light depressed three-centred-headed window, with mullion and glazing-bar-holes. This latter window, with its external hood-moulding, has replaced the original and has been inserted into the original embrasure. At the S end of the E wall there is a hooded fireplace with a flat-arched lintel consisting of voussoirs with a central keystone, supported from below on slender tapering corbels and counter-weighted on the N side by a round-profiled skewback and on the S side by the S wall. In the E wall of the S window embrasure there is a flat-headed doorway giving access to a small mural chamber in the S wall lit by a round-headed SE angle-loop. In the W wall of the same embrasure there is also a flat-headed doorway giving access to a mural garderobe chamber which dog-legs to run along the W wall. It is lit by a SW round-headed angle loop and a narrow loop in the W wall. The garderobe chute, which also serves a garderobe at 3rd-floor level, exits N of center in the W wall at ground level. The 3rd floor has a rather unusual arrangement in the there is a vaulted passage which runs E-W from the spiral stair and terminates in a garderobe in a small alcove to the S at the W end. The stone floor of the passage rests upon closely fitting oak floor beams (Leask 1937, 287). The passage is lit by a single flat-headed window in the W wall. At this level, hidden behind the garderobe, and accessed from a false garderobe in the floor above, is a secret mural chamber or oubliette. The oubliette has a single source of light and air in the form of a small square opening in the W wall. The main chamber at 3rd-floor level was entered from the passage, though this section of walling is completely broken out. The pointed vaulted chamber, with good wicker-centring, is lit by a round-headed single-light window in the S wall within a large straight-sided embrasure. The 4th-floor was originally accessed from via a pointed doorway from the spiral-stair and the stair continued up to parapet level. This access arrangement was altered in the late 16th/early 17th century when the spiral stair was removed, the pointed doorway blocked up and a flat-headed doorway within a boxy entrance was built on top of the former spiral stair. One of the steps of the stairs was retained and is visible in the upper NE angle of the chamber at wall-plate level. The original chamber, which occupies the entire floor level, was lit by a window in each wall, externally these are all within chamfered stone frames. There is also a flat-headed single-light window with slop-stone beneath at the N end of the E wall. The window in the E wall has been blocked up and a polished limestone fireplace inserted with depressed three-centred lintel and chamfered surround with run-out stops. In both the S and W wall there is a two-light round-headed window, with mullion missing, set within a large round-headed straight-sided embrasure. The false garderobe, described above, is located in the S wall of the W window embrasure, the floor of which gives access to the oubliette below. There is a single-light round-headed window in a round-headed straight-sided embrasure in the N wall. The wall E of this embrasure was modified in the late 16th/early 17th century to accommodate a mural stair which rises to parapet level. It is entered via a flat-headed doorway inserted into the E wall of the N window embrasure. There are three wall-cupboards at 4th-floor level, at the S end of the E wall, at the E end of the S wall and at the N end of the W wall. The wall-walk was supported internally by a double corbel course along the E and S wall and the N end of the W wall and by a triple corbel course along the W end of the N wall. The parapet was rebuilt