Castletown — Castletown (kilbarron Par.)

Situated on natural rock outcrop on the shores of Lough Derg with extensive views. A fortified house (TN009-001001) of the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century which has been heavily modified in the nineteenth century by the rendering of walls, the addition of fake battlements and a wing to the SE angle. The base-batter is visible on the N wall of the house along with the original slit opes on the S wall. Originally the fortified consisted of a rectangular shaped block (wall T 2.32m) three storeys high with a smaller square-shaped tower at the NW angle which contained smaller chambers at first and second-floor levels. This earlier angle tower may be the remains of the O'Kennedy tower house which was subsequently re-fortified in the seventeenth century. The main entrance was located in the S wall and gave access to the main ground-floor chamber with barrel vault orientated on a N-S axis, with two smaller barrel-vaulted chambers orientated on an E-W axis accessed off the main chamber. There is fine evidence of wicker-centring on the vaulting over the three ground-floor chambers. A fireplace, now blocked, was located in the centre of the N wall of the main ground-floor chamber. A large circular stone trough is carved out of the natural bedrock on which the house is located in the northernmost ground-floor chamber. Directly inside the main entrance a mural stairs in the S wall gives access to the first-floor chamber in the SW angle. The first and second floors have wooden ceilings carried on stone corbels. A small angle chamber is accessed from the main chamber at both levels in the NW angle. The original wall-walk, accessed from the SW angle, is destroyed but the original drain-holes are still visible. A small mural passage directly over the main entrance in the S wall gave access to a murder-hole to protect the lobby area directly inside the main entrance. Unfortunately the continual occupation has obscured many of the earlier features of the house. The small slit opes set in lintelled embrasures and the mural stairs along with the fine barrel-vaulted ceilings are the main earlier features which still survive. The main windows and battlements were added to the house along with the SE extension in the nineteenth century. A bawn wall (TN009-001002), possibly original with fake battlements is located to the S of the house. The formal walled garden depicted on 1st ed. OS 6-inch map still survives to the S of the house and may be contemporary with the fortified house. Described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as an 'old ruined castle & bawne the walls onely standing one garden & eight cottages' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 309). 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