Castle — Carstown (ferrard By; Ballymakenny Par.)

This tower house has a slight base batter and is built of roughly coursed rubble, greywacke and limestone; it was originally three storeys high but the second- floor level has been truncated to accommodate a pitched roof in line with that of a modern dwelling attached to its W wall. The original entrance, now blocked, was through a doorway at the S end of the W wall. The arch of the doorway is a two-stone pointed one of punch-dressed limestone with the stones cut at an obtuse angle to sit on the supporting jambs. It has large slab stone lintels over the entrance passage. The stairwell is situated in the SW angle but is not accessible. The top portion of the tower house was destroyed by the building of a more modern roof and by the use of its W wall as the gable end of the house. The remains of the stair tower project slightly westwards but it also has been broken away to facilitate the later building. The NE angle had a tower which projected eastwards but this has been completely removed and only part of its broken E wall remains. Since the stairwell is in the SW angle the destroyed tower at the NE must have contained the garderobes. The first and second floors must have been constructed of wood since there is no evidence of a barrel vault. There is a two-light window of punch-dressed limestone with small rounded arch over each ope in the N wall at first-floor level. There is a three-light window in the E wall constructed in the same manner, and a two-light one directly over it in the third storey. The punch-dressing of the stonework is very finely executed and finished with a border. There are two very finely carved stone heads on corbels on each side of the top of the three-light window. The heads are of limestone, with human faces, and were used to support the second floor. There are doorways in the NE angle at first- and second-floor level that gave access to the garderobes which would have been contained in the now-destroyed tower. That at the second-floor level has been almost completely destroyed by the later alterations as were the upper-level ones in the SW angle. The arch of the doorway in the NE angle at first -floor level is rounded and almost semi-circular rather than two-centred, and is built of finely punch-dressed limestone blocks. There are two large fireplaces in the W wall at first- and second-floor levels with limestone lintels and jambs finely tooled. A now-blocked doorway with limestone slab lintel, in the SW angle facing E, gave access to the first-floor level. The level above this has been destroyed by the later alterations. The tower house is very small, with a max. Wth of only 7m (E-W). The treatment of the dressed stonework and the rounded arches of the window lights suggest that it is late in the series of County Louth tower houses, probably the second half of the seventeenth century. It is thought to have been built by John Chivers, a supporter of James II (IFC Schools MSS 678, 143-4). (Gristen 1916, 101-2; Tempest 1944, 314) The above description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 July 2007