Ballingarry Castle (in ruins) — Ballingarry

Situated on a slight rise of ground on flat pasture in undulating countryside with Knockshigowna Hill to the E. No visible remains of a tower house and it is doubtful if there was one located inside the bawn wall or curtain wall. The tower described in the OS Letters is mistakenly identified and is actually referring to the gatehouse located in the NE angle of the bawn (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 75). The bawn/curtain wall (TN008-046002-) is a large impressive and square-shaped (60.3m N-S; 56.5m E-W; wall T 2.15m; H 6m) area constructed of roughly coursed limestone rubble with a slight base-batter. A segmental-arched gateway located at the N end of the E wall gives access to a gatehouse which protrudes from the face of the bawn wall at its S end and is flush with the bawn wall at N. Inside the gatehouse to the N are the remains of two small chambers one of which gives access to a later inserted stone mural stairs leading to the wall-walk in the NE angle. The original access to the wall-walk was from the first-floor chamber of the gatehouse directly over the main entrance. The gatehouse was protected by a portcullis, the slots of which survive on the N and S walls of the passage, inside the gateway below the first-floor chamber. The curtain wall was defended by narrow single-light slit opes set into deep segmental-arched embrasures. Internally the opes were located two metres above the ground level and were accessed from a wooden platform of which no remains survive. The absence of evidence of a tower keep inside the curtain wall suggests the probability of wooden buildings located along the inner face of the curtain wall. A late nineteenth-century house was added to the centre of the W wall. The large impressive fireplace and buttressing which protrudes from the external face of the curtain wall survives. Contemporary with this late house is the round-arched gateway at the W end of the N wall and the bee boles (TN008-046003-) at the E end of this wall. The present orchard is probably also contemporary with this later phase. This castle is an example of a thirteenth century keepless castle with well preserved high curtain wall with two storey gatehouse/gatetower at the N end of the E wall of the castle. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008