Castle — Grantstown

Granstown Castle originally owned by the Lords of Upper Ossory, it belonged to Gilbert Rawson in 1653, Edmond Morris in 1691 and was granted to Richard and Edward Fitzpatrick in 1696 by William of Orange (Carrigan 1905 vol. 2, 63). Circular tower house situated on gentle NE facing slope of ridge running E-W overlooking Grantstown Lake 270m to NE. The walled garden of Granstown House (later Ballygran) lies 130m to SW. All field fences within the vicinity of the tower house have been removed. About one third of the wall has collapsed between NE and SSE the material forming a large cairn which almost obscures the ground floor. Circular tower house (ext. diam. 11.7m; wall T 2.9m) built from well coursed limestone rubble and much of the external render still survives. It has five storeys and an attic with a vault over the third floor. The whole tower has a batter which becomes more pronounced at the base. All dressed stone is punch dressed limestone. The entrance was at ENE and is now almost obscured by collapsed rubble but the doorway was pointed and it has an external rebate and a yett hole. Inside the doorway you turn right through a pointed doorway with a small lobby (dims. 1.32m x 1.42m) which had a wooden roof carried on wall offsets. Most of this lobby is covered by collapsed rubble but a pointed doorway leads off this lobby into the main ground floor. The ground floor chamber (int. diam. 5.7m) is lit by a round headed window in wall at SSW. This window embrasure has a single gun-loop visible. Offset in wall at N and W was to accommodate a wooden floor overhead. From the lobby area a pointed doorway in the N wall leads into a short passage from which a mural stairs in the N wall is accessed. Off this stairs one can access a mural passage directly over the lobby of the main entrance. Gun loop visible off mural stairs in N wall at first floor level. Corbels supported a wooden ceiling over the first floor. From the first floor level up the mural stairs in the N wall changes into a spiral stairs from which all upper floors were accessed. Evidence of twin light window with flanking gun-loops in W wall of second floor chamber which is a five sided chamber with a large rectangular fireplace with limestone surrounds in S wall. Brick piers have been inserted in order to narrow the fireplace in a later period. In the E wall there is a doorway leading into a chamber now destroyed but may originally have been a garderobe. Some corbels survive which were support for a wooden ceiling. Third floor was accessed off spiral stairs in N wall through a pointed doorway with a hanging eye and a catch for a latch on the E. This level is really a loft since it is under the barrel vault which runs NNE-SSW and has wicker centring. There is no evidence of natural light entering this floor. A destroyed doorway in the S wall leads to a mural passage which terminates in the middle of the W wall. Fourth floor accessed off spiral stairs in N wall and rests on top of barrel vault and is rectangular (int. dims. 6.6m N-S) in shape. In the W wall there is a shaft for a murder hole and at the S end of the W wall there is a twin light window. There is a cut stone fireplace (Wth 1.96m ; H 1.32m; D 0.8m) with chamfered sandstone surrounds in the centre of the S wall at this level. The lintel of the fireplace consists of three pieces with a cut and dressed keystone. The ceiling was supported by at least three corbels visible in the N and S walls. Attic was accessed off spiral stairs via a lintelled doorway and leads on up to give access to a wall walk. The parapet does not survive above the string course but there is a machicolation at NE over the entrance doorway and at W. There was presumably a look-out tower over the stairs housing. A rectangular chimney rises over the wall-walk at S. Circular tower house described by Carrigan as following; 'Grantstown castle, one of the few round castle in our Diocese, is in good preservation, though roofless for a considerable time. It is 19 ft. in diameter, at the base on the inside, the wall being fully 11 ft. thick all round. There are five storeys, viz. three under and two over, the stone arch. Each storey communicates with the beautiful spiral stairway by a cut stone door, in some instances round-headed, in others gothic. In the first storey directly opposite the entrance door, there is an aperture of cut-stone, shaped like a Latin cross, through and through the wall. A cross exactly similar, and occupying the same position may be also seen in Ballogh [LA033-002001-] castle, near Errill. Fire-places and chimney-flues form part of the original work in the four upper stories, there is no fire-place in the first storey' (Carrigan 1905 vol. 2, 63). Pre-development testing was undertaken by Dominic Delaney under licence no. 95E258 in advance of a proposed farmyard development on site of Bayylgran House in November 1995. The remains of a late medieval circular tower house (LA028-051----) stand approx. 170m west of the site. No archaeological deposits or features were identified. 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. Compiled by: Michael Moore and Caimin O'Brien Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 7 May 2020