Castle in ruins, Red Castle Fort — Redcastle

In undulating countryside. A Fitzpatrick castle built in the sixteenth century inside a large circular earthwork (LA017-002002-) known as Red Castle Fort (O'Byrne 1856, 73; O'Hanlon & O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, 210). No visible surface remains. According to local tradition the castle was approached by a laneway known as Cromwell's Road, believed to mark the line of Cromwell's march from Portlaoise to Birr, there are now no traces of building or stonework of any kind and the only remains are those of earthworks, circular in shape and resembling an immense rath (LA017-002002-). On the first edition of the OS 6-inch map the castle is depicted as a castle in ruins and shown as a building aligned on a N-S axis standing on the SE quadrant of the Red Castle Fort (LA017-002002-). On this 6-inch map the building depicted as 'Castle in ruins' is enclosed by a stone wall which forms an L-shaped area to the N, E and S of this building which may represent the remains of a bawn wall associated with the castle ruins. On digital globe aerial photographs the outline of these levelled walls can still be seen. On the first edition OS 6-inch map a well is depicted a short distance to the S of the castle ruins. On subsequent editions of the OS maps the castle site is depicted incorrectly as situated in the west quadrant of the enclosure (LA017-002002-). In the early 1900s a small single storey cottage was built on the site of the castle ruins. In the S quadrant of the enclosure known as Red Castle Fort there is a single storey cottage built in the early 1900s for the veterans of WW1 who returned to the area after the war. Several similar cottages can be seen on the road beside this earthwork. This cottage appears to have been built on the site of the castle which is indicated a low platform enclosing the cottage. According to the local landowner a small circular dry stone lined well (LA017-002003-) was located to the rear of the cottage and measured 40 ft deep and approx. 3ft wide. He also informed me that the castle was constructed from redbrick which gave its name to the castle. There is an abundance of redbrick just below the top sod in the area around the single storey cottage. He was of the opinion that the well was contemporary with the castle. Archaeological testing in the vicinity of the castle and earthwork was carried out by Dominic Delany in 2002 under excavation licence no. 02E1819. Archaeological testing in the vicinity of the castle was carried out by Dominic Delany in 2003 under excavation licence no. 03E0087. Testing was carried out on the site of a proposed house at Redcastle, Co. Laois on the 27th January 2003. The development site (NGR 23728/19592) is near the castle and earthwork. Several archaeological features including pits and linear ditches were exposed in two test trenches c. 80m long that were mechanically excavated. The flinear features were probably old land drains and were deemed to be of no archaeological interest (Bennett 2006, 298). 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. Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 8 June 2016