Castle (in ruins) — Ballycapple

Situated on level ground in a farmyard, in an area of gently undulating pasture. Described in the Civil Survey 1654-6 as 'an old ruined Castle & bawne & three cottages' in 'The Mannor & Lands of Bellagh Caple' with the proprietors of the townland in 1640 listed as 'Richard Butler of Kilcash, Duncuan, Matthew, Owen' and 'Bryan Kenedy & Donogh Donoghow' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 285-6). Present remains consist of a rectangular hall-keep (ext. dims. 13m N-S; c. 9.5m E-W; wall T 1.9m) with a double vault over the ground floor. It was originally two-storey but was modified to become a three-storey tower house in the fifteenth century. It is built of roughly coursed limestone with a base-batter (H 1.4m; Wth 0.4m) evident on the S and W faces. An angle tower at the SE angle projects E and contains a spiral stairs, with a further small projection on the S side. There are a series of squinches on the E side which also contains a loop to light the stairs. The original entrance may have been through a first-floor doorway at the S end of the E wall where there is now a large window. A fifteenth-century entrance at ground-floor level at the E end of the S wall has been blocked up - only the W jambs and head of this pointed doorway survive. A small loop has been inserted into the fill and the small projecting tower containing stair lights rises above this doorway which may have truncated the tower on this side. The tower may originally have risen from the external ground level. This doorway was subsequently replaced, in the late sixteenth century, with a pointed doorway with punch-tooling and drafting, inserted at ground-floor level in the S end of E wall. The external ground level appears to have been lowered subsequently. The ground-floor chamber is divided internally on its E-W axis into two chambers by a rubble wall. A blocked archway (D c. 1.17m) formerly gave access from one chamber to the other. The N chamber is in poor condition and its E-W barrel-vaulted roof has largely collapsed. It is intact, however, in the S chamber and has evidence of plank centring. The spiral stairs is accessed through a flat-headed, chamfered doorway in the SE angle and is lit by a number of window loops. The first floor is entered through a pointed doorway. This chamber is lit by a window in the E wall, now broken out, with a round-headed internal embrasure. A large fireplace occupies the N end of the W wall which also has a cupboard. A blocked single-light window is visible externally in the E wall; it appears to be either a trefoil or cusped ogee-headed window. The second floor appears to be a later insert with joist-holes inserted to carry a wooden floor. A small open fireplace was inserted in the S wall and the base of a window survives at the S end of the W wall. Later chimney stacks survive on both S and W walls. In the external fabric of the E wall at second-floor level there is a blocked up long slit ope which may be related to the original crenellation or parapet of the hall-keep. According to local tradition part of the bawn wall (TN015-069002-) survives SW of the tower house, some of which has been incorporated into the S gable end of a house to the S. The landowner asserts that a further length, running E-W, contains a number of loops, however, this is now obscured by ivy. 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