Tower — Kilfane Demesne

In 1615 the Rectory formed part of the corps of the arch-deaconry of Ossory (Hegarty 1974, 7-8). According to the OS Letters of 1839 (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 14 (6)) the church was ‘used as a Protestant Church till very lately’, after which it was used as a school house (Hegarty 1974, 8). The fact that it was roofed into the 19th century may explain why the original internal plaster is so well preserved under later layers. A tower (ext. dims. 4.57m N-S; 6.63m E-W) of red sandstone rubble, roughly coursed, adjoins the medieval church of Kilfane (KK028-013001-) at the E end of the N wall. Both the E wall of the tower and the E gable of the church appear to be contemporary, likely to date from the first half of the 14th century. A slight change in masonry above ground-floor level suggests that the tower was heightened at a later date, in the 15th century. The tower may originally have been a sacristy with a connecting doorway to the church in the N wall of the church. This appears to have been blocked up at some stage and at a later stage a rather crude opening in this wall broken though. A small window at the E end of the church in the N wall provides a view of the altar from within the tower at ground-floor level. Another small window, now blocked, at first-floor level, also provided a view of the altar. The ground-floor chamber of the tower is lit by an ogee-headed window with glazing-bar slot and holes in the E wall, which may be a later modification of an earlier window. There is an altar beneath the E window. There is a small aumbry at the S end of the E wall with a broken credence. There is an arched recess and a wall cupboard in the N wall and a recess under the stair in the W wall. At some stage a doorway appears to have been inserted at the S end of the E wall, giving access to the tower from the exterior. A straight stair rises in the thickness of the W wall and is lit by a single loop. There is a very unusual arrangement at the top of this stairs where there is evidence of a former trapdoor covering the top of the stair. The circular stone sockets for the door hinges are still in place, with a recess for the door itself. A large blocked opening in the N wall at the top of the stairs appears to be a later insert, if a doorway that suggests that there was either another building adjoining to the N or an external first-floor entrance, though no traces of either are visible externally. The first-floor has a fireplace in the N wall and a small garderobe recess at the E end of the N wall with a door recess in the E wall. This floor was lit by a window in the E wall. A doorway in the SE angle gives access to a narrow spiral stairs leading to the upper floors and parapet. The second floor has two wall cupboards, and was lit by an ogee-headed single-light window in the N wall and one in the E wall. The third floor also had two wall-cupboards and was lit by four single-light ogee-headed windows, one in each wall. At roof level there is a caphouse covering the stair, a parapet enclosed the rest of the tower with a double bellcote at the S end of the W wall of the tower, which partially rests on a corbelled overhang. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 27 July 2015