Turrets (in Ruins) — Coolnamony Lower

On slightly elevated site at E side of Glenlahan. Reference to the site of a tower house or fortified house, thought to have been built by Teige Oge O'Doyne c. 1551 (Crossdaile 1959, 12). Site of seventeenth century house and bawn (LA002-018003-) situated on slighly elevated ground close to E bank of Glenlahan river. All that remains is W wall of bawn (LA002-018003-) which has three simple splayed gun opes and part of an angle tower at its N end. Bridge (LA002-018002-) which crosses the river and gives access to the house may be early seventeenth century and contemporary with it. A nineteenth century single storey four bay derelict farmhouse (ext. dims. N-S 18m ; E-W 6.2m; wall T 0.6m) orientated on a N -S axis stands on top of a seventeenth century house which is contemporary with the bawn wall (LA002-018003-). The basement of the seventeenth century house was filled in to provide foundations for the farmhouse which has a byre (int. dims. N-S 4.6m ; E-W 5m) at the S end. The concrete floor of the farmhouse has been ripped up in the N room off the kitchen of the farmhouse revealing the basement of an earlier building underneath. This earlier chamber (int. dims. N-S 3.38m; E-W 1.87m; wall T 1.2m) is partly below the ground and is not a true basement and is similar to the ground floors of other seventeenth century fortified houses. There is a blocked up window lighting this chamber in the centre of the N wall and a stone ledge or shelf running N-S along the inner face of the W wall. In the floor of this chamber there is a square shaft which may have been a latrine shaft (dims 0.48m x 0.53m x D 0.3m), it has drystone stone surround and is currently filled up with debris. It may have been a latrine shaft that exited outside the house. Presumably the ground floor of this seventeenth century house extends S underneath the floor of the upstanding farmhouse. This upstanding building may also incorporate part of the earlier structure as there is evidence for blocked up windows in the E wall of the kitchen of the farmhouse. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007