Castle (in ruins) — Aghnananagh

Only the wall footings of the N, W and E walls survive with S wall best preserved. Late medieval tower house or fortifed house (ext. dims 9.3m N-S; 14.4m E-W; wall T 1.2m) built with roughly coursed limestone rubble with no evidence of a base batter situated on a slight rise in undulating countryside. The interior of the building consists of collapsed rubble which fills the interior of the castle. At gound floor level there is evidence of a narrow rectangular slit window in the centre of the E wall and two slit opes in the S wall. To the E of the castle are a group of outhouses which were built with cut-stone from the castle. The cornerstones of the outhouses display punch dressed stone with drafted margins. These stones are very similar to the inscribed stone in the Blue ball pub which is dated 1641 and has similar dressing. According to local information there was a medieval village (OF016-041002-), which was bulldozed several years ago, located to the SW of the castle (pers. comm. Vincent Cummins). Possibly a late 16th/early 17th-century fortified house with associated village. According to local information there was the ruins of a small building known locally as the 'old church' (OF016-004003-) located 100m to the SW of the castle, this building was levelled in the 1950s and only a low rise of ground indicates the site of the possible church today (pers. comm. Vincent Cummins). Approximately 180m SW of the castle a 14th century chalice known as the De Burgo chalice was discovered in the 1930s and this chalice is now stored in the National Museum of Ireland. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011