Lisclooney Castle — Lisclooney

Situated on flat well drained land with good views. Poorly preserved L-plan house (ext. dims. 29.7m E-W; 28m N-S; wall T 0.8m) three storeys high with attic above which is lit by two small windows on the W gable one either side of the chimney flue which has three Jacobean style chimney stacks constructed with brick. Directly opposite the destroyed door on the S wall there is a gabled projecting tower from the N wall which contained the stairs now destroyed with a later brick lined round arched window. Windows are all large rectangular flat headed types. Evidence of possible bawn wall to the S of the house. The W end of the house is orientated on an E-W axis while the E end is orientated on a N-S axis and is only two storeys high with later structure added to the E end of the N wall. All fireplaces have spiral chimney flues which feed into one central chimney stack, this can be seen on the W gable and at the E end of the N wall. As a result all fireplaces are set off centre on the wall. Probable late 17th-century house built on the site of Mac Coghlan castle mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters in the year 1556 (ITA Survey 1942). (Cooke 1875, 335; O' Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 59; Garner 1985, 39) 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