Kilbline Castle — Kilbline

On a slight elevation in good undulating pasture, with farm house attached to the N and farmyard to the E. The lands of Kilbline were among the possessions of Thomas Comerford of Ballymack and were confiscated when he was attainted for rebellion in 1566 (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 485). These possessions were leased to James Prescott in 1577 (Fiant Eliz. 3012), to Francis Lovell in 1583 (Fiant Eliz. 4267) and finally were granted to Henry Comerford in 1586 (Fiant Eliz. 4909). Kilbline passed to the Shortall family in or by 1586, in which year the castle is first mentioned (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 485). In the Down Survey (1655-6) it is described as ‘a castle in good repaire and a pigeon house’. The Shortall possessions were confiscated under Cromwell and as part of the Restoration settlement Kilbline was granted to the Duke of York and occupied by Dudly Mannering from 1659 (Malone 1992). It later passed to Ralph Gore and by the mid-18th century it was occupied by Candlers (De Breffny and ffolliott 1975, 74). De Breffny and ffolliot (ibid.) mention that it was occupied by the Ryans from the 19th into the 20th century, who used two floors of the tower house as store rooms and 'until recently used a panelled room I the tower as a sitting-room'. A late 16th-century four-storey rectangular tower house with attic (ext. dims. 11.1m x 8.6m above base-batter) and mural chamber at fourth-floor/attic level along the W wall and look-out above it with a bartizan on the SW angle. It is constructed of limestone rubble roughly coursed harled externally. The tower house entrance was towards the E end of the N wall at ground-floor level, but this was broken out to connect the castle with the adjoining house. Externally the entrance was protected by a machicolation at parapet level. From the entrance lobby there appears to have been a guardroom to the E with a modified window, a mural stair giving access to the upper floors to the W and the main ground-floor chamber was to the S. The original stone steps has been replaced by wooden ones. The ground-floor chamber was probably lit by at least two windows, one in the S and one in the W wall, though both present as modern windows, presumably where the original windows have been enlarged. Internally the ground floor has modern partitions dividing it into three rooms accessed from a small modern lobby. The W wall of the tower has been cut back to accommodate the westernmost room and from its NW corner a passage has been tunnelled through the wall to connect with the front door lobby of the attached house. The first-floor level, with its relatively modern timber floor, is accessed via a pointed doorway from the stairs at the W end of the N wall. It has a pointed vault springing from the N and S walls, with a trap door opening, blocked with brick, at its W end. The first-floor chamber was lit by a window in the E wall and another in the W wall, the latter now blocked. At the E end of the N wall there is a flat-headed doorway giving access to a small mural chamber, some of the door jamb stones appear to have been reused and the opening may be a later insertion. Second-floor level is access via a mural stair which turns in the NW angle and continues up the W wall, with a circular gun-port mid-way along this wall. Opposite the entrance to the second-floor chamber, towards the S end of the W wall, there is a single-light window with slop-stone projecting externally beneath it. The doorway to the second-floor chamber has been removed. S of the doorway there was a garderobe chamber, the E wall of which, dividing the garderobe from the main room, has been removed. It is not clear whether the garderobe was accessed from the top of the stairs or directly from the second-floor chamber. The second-floor chamber, which has a modern concrete floor, appears to have originally functioned as the hall. Towards the W end of the S wall there is a joggle-joined flat-headed fireplace with chamfered surround. A date of 1580 on the E side of the lintel has been carved over the vertical punch dressing of the surround. The room was lit by three single-light windows, in the N, E and S walls respectively. The N and S windows are now blocked and the E window was converted into a doorway, probably to facilitate the loading of goods when this floor was utilised as a store. A recess (H 0.8m; Wth 0.94m; D 0.16m) at the E end of the N wall is directly above the small mural chamber at first-floor level. There is a wall cupboard in the NE angle and a small wall cupboard at the S end of the E wall and at the E end of the S wall. Access to the third floor is via a stair in the NW angle which rises in the W wall. The third-floor chamber had a timber floor, now gone, which was supported on corbels projecting from the N and S walls. It was lit by four windows, two in the N wall and one in the E and S wall, all now blocked. The E window embrasure was converted into a fireplace with a chamfered flat pseudo-three-centred lintel, the original jambs of which have been replaced by roughly cut stones. There is access to a garderobe chamber in the SW angle. Access to the attic and wall-walk at roof level is via a spiral stair in the NW angle. The flat-headed doorway from the stair to the attic is visible in the W wall and N of it, at a slightly higher level, there is a smaller flat-headed doorway giving access to the mural chamber which runs along the W wall. There is a modern corrugated-iron roof at attic level. At roof level there is an original chimney stack on the S wall which projects externally, rising from a horizontal corbelled course at second-floor level. The chimney built around the E gable is a later addition. There is a round bartizan on the SW angle. Externally a horizontal string-course runs along the base of the attic, continuing across the projecting original chimney stack. This string-course rises vertically to run along the base of the look-out which surmounts the mural chamber on the W wall. The look-out or fighting platform has a round bartizan at the SW angle and both it, and the walls of the look-out, are punctuated by a series of gun-loops. See attached: KK024-083003-_01 Extract from Down Survey (1655-6) parish map of Tullohedin, in the barony of Gowran, Co. Kilkenny (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin) KK024-083003-_02 Second-floor fireplace KK024-083003-_02 Date incised on second-floor fireplace Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 21 September 2021