Cloonbigny Castle — Cloonbigny

This is a castle of the Keoghs, probably dating from the 15th century, through Tadhg, son of Nicol Óg, grandson of Diarmuid Mór O'Kelly (O'Donovan 1843, 125-6). However, by 1585 Cloonbigny was owned by John Moore, a government official from Athlone, but its possessions may have been as extensive as the later estate of the Moores’ (Moore 1974-5; 1978, 61). It was owned by William Moore in 1640 and Col. Garrett Moore in the 1660s (Simington 1949, 105). It is situated on a slight rise in a low-lying landscape with lower ground to the E and S. The S corner of a tower house survives with a base-batter and copious cairn material, whose SE wall is abutted by the NW wall of the fortified house (RO050-019002-). The entrance was on the SE wall with a vaulted guard room to the NE and the destroyed newel stairs was in the S angle. The tower house is at the S angle of a bawn (RO050-019003-) (int. dims c. 31m NE-SW; c. 28m NW-SE) defined by wall foundations (Wth 0.9m) and a stone spread (Wth c. 2m; H 0.3m). A cairn (diam. 5m; max. H 1m) at the N angle is the remains of a circular mural tower (RO050-019004-), and there are the foundation of a gateway (RO050-019005-) (Wth of passage 3m; L 9m) straddling the centre of the NW wall. There are the foundations of a building (RO050-019006-) (int. dims c. 8m x c. 6m) against the inside of the NE bawn wall and of a building (RO050-019007-) (int. dims c. 10m x c. 4m) against the inside of the SW bawn wall. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 24 August 2010