Leitrim Castle — Leitrim (ballintober South By.)

Reputedly a castle of the O'Flanagans, according to J. O'Donovan writing in the 1830s (O'Flanagan 1931, vol. 1, 51; Herity 2010, 33), it had been lost by Turlough O'Brien to Irish rebels by 1596 (Cronin 1980, 117). A castle at Leitrim is marked on the Strafford map of Ballintober barony dating from c. 1636 (Simington 1949, B), and in 1641 54 acres at Leitrim was disputed between Donnagh Mc Kega, Henry Dodwell and Elinor Connor (ibid. 25). The castle is situated on a gentle N-facing slope of a WNW-ESE ridge with rock outcrop. It is an oval, grass-covered mound of earth and stone (dims of top 11m E-W; 9m N-S; H 2m) at the NE angle of a rectangular enclosure (dims c. 30m E-W; c. 30m N-S) defined by grass-covered wall footings (Wth 1m; H 0.15-0.25m) and stone spreads on the N and W sides, which was probably a bawn (RO034-019002-). At the NW angle of this bawn are the foundations a small structure (int. dims 3m E-W; 3m N-S) with an entrance (Wth 0.6m) at N, which is probably a corner tower. South of the castle mound are the foundations of a rectangular house (RO034-019003-) (int. dims 9.3m E-W; 5.3m N-S) defined by a stone spread (Wth 1m; H 0.1-0.25m) with an entrance (Wth 1.3m) on the E side. A second house site (RO035-019004-), represented by parts of the N and E walls is just to the W. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 24 August 2010