Ruin — Donacarney Little

Situated on a knoll on a general E-facing slope. A castle at Donycarny in Colp parish and Duleek barony is not depicted on the Down Survey (1656-8) barony map (http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/), although the terrier or commentary says there is a habitable castle and a farmhouse there (Dalton 1844, 449). Neither the castle nor farmhouse is recorded in the Civil Survey (1654-6), although only 40 acres at Donacarney was forfeited (Simington 1940, 4). This castle was known as ‘Draycott’s Castle’ and is thought to have been burnt in 1641. One wall is depicted on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map where it is described as a ‘Ruin’. Only the N wall (L 6m; T 1.75m) and the adjacent part of the E wall survive with a recess towards the W end and the springing of an E-W barrel-vault in the N wall. A fragment of the wall survives above the vault with a small light and the E side of the fragmentary remains of a fireplace with dressed stonework and a chimney flue. The forge (ME021-039----) at the roadside just to the SW could be an original medieval building, and human remains (ME021-040----) were noted c. 25m SW of the castle under the Donacarney road junction in 1964 and again in 2006. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revised upload: 22 June 2016 Amended: 16 February 2021, 13 April 2021; 15 September 2021