Fraine Castle — Fraine

Situated on a gentle E-facing slope. According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) Edward Scurlock of Frane in Athboy parish owned 312 acres there in 1640 and the property included ‘two waste castles and a hall and a quarry, and some cottages’ (Simington 1940, 209). He also owned 225 acres in Drissoge and 228 acres in Dirlangan in the same parish (ibid. 212). This is a four-storey rectangular structure (ext. dims 7.4m E-W; 6.3m N-S), but most of the S part of the monument does not survive. It has an E-W barrel vault over the ground floor where the only other features are a light towards the W end of the S wall and breaks in the N and W walls. Only the ivy-covered N wall and the adjacent portions of the W and E walls survive with a garderobe at the NW corner, a fireplace in the centre of the N wall and a window with seats at its E end. There is a fragment of a window with a seat in the W wall. Corbels to support the ceiling are missing from the N wall and the E and W walls are recessed. The pattern is repeated at the second floor, except that there is no fireplace in the N wall and the corbels are also missing from the N wall. The third floor has a window without a seat at the W end of the N wall, a light at its E end, and the N sides of embrasures in the E and W walls survives although the parapet does not. Just 5m E of the tower house is the outline of a building (ext. dims 21.8m E-W; 9.5m N-S) defined by wall footings. A scarp runs E (L 25m) from its NE angle, then turns N (L c. 65m) and W (Wth c. 5m; H 0.3m; L c. 40m) as a bank with inner and outer ditches (Wth 4-5m; D up to 0.6m) to meet a N-S road bank. These features could describe a bawn around the tower house. East and S of these features there are further fields (ME029-018----) covering an area of about 9 acres (c. 3.5 ha). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 28 June 2016