Barranagh Castle in Ruins — Bearanach Thoir

Located on a storm beach on the NW side of Ely Harbour, on the SE side of the Mullet peninsula. The location is bordered on the landward NW–N side by an expanse of flat marshy ground, but there is access along the beach c. 100m to E–NE to rising dry ground. This castle is shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map as a rectangular building (c. 20m ENE–WSW; c. 10m NNW–SSE) annotated ‘Barranagh Castle in ruins’; on the 1921 edition, a single ENE−WSW wall is indicted bordering the shore. A limekiln is indicated immediately to N of the castle on the 25-inch plan. There are no upstanding remains of the castle. The location is marked by a slight, sod-covered rise (c. 12m -15m NNW–SSE; c. 15-20m ENE–WSW) bordered by a spread of large angular stones which spill over the natural rounded cobbles of the beach. Within this spread of stones there are two discrete blocks (c. 2m x 1m x 0.8m) of displaced masonry, consisting of uncoursed rubble, coated in a rough lime mortar with heavy inclusions of shell and some animal bone. At the SW end of the sod-covered area, and barely discernible amidst the general spread of stone blocks and beach cobbles, are two parallel lines of contiguous stones, set 2m apart, extending for c. 8-10m to the WSW, possibly representing the basal course of a wall. A layer (D 0.2-0.25m) of dark soil with heavy inclusions degraded mortar and small, angular stones, some with a burnt appearance, is visible in section along the eroding S edge of the sod-covered area. This may be the remains of a floor surface, but could also be related the limekiln, which according to local information, was constructed within the castle ruins, and later destroyed by storms. A fragment of a rotary quern was noted within the spread of rubble. It consists of D-shaped slab (0.6m x 0.28m) representing half of the upper stone of the quern. Part of the central perforation (diam. 0.1m) is evident, as well as a smaller perforation (diam. 0.05m), toward the perimeter, which served to take a wooden turning handle. Compiled by: Jane O’ Shaughnessy Date of upload: 29 September 2017