Bawn in Meelick (tirawley By.)

In pasture, rising from the floor of a flat-bottomed E–W valley, overshadowed to S by a high escarpment. A lake, Meelick Lough, is c. 30m to N in the centre of an expanse of flat, wet pasture. A farmyard is located immediately to W. The remnants of a stone castle (MA022-020----) surmount a rectangular raised area or platform that may have functioned as a bawn or bailey. The platform is not shown on the 1838 6-inch OS map, but is depicted on the 1929 edition as a sub-rectangular area (c. 50m N-S; c. 45m E-W), with the castle shown slightly to E of centre. It survives as a roughly rectangular raised area (c. 34-35m N–S; c. 48m E-W), which may have been created by scarping or modifying a pre-existing rise or knoll. However, it has been disturbed by recent farm development: the W edge of the platform has been truncated and is now bordered by a N-S concrete wall; the E side has been partly levelled; an E–W farm track cuts across the N end of the platform, and another farm track skirts the E side of the platform. The platform slopes down quite steeply from close to the castle to the outer edges at S, W and N, but to E of the castle the top of platform is relatively level, with a gradually slope down to its E edge, and the original entrance may have been on this side. Remnants of possible stone facing are evident on the scarp face at S. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 23 November 2015