Castle — tower house in Graigue Upper (ardcrony Par.)

Located on a slight natural rise. In the mid-eighteenth century it became incorporated in 'Beechwood House', forming a T-projection at the rear. Described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as an 'old castle and bawne the walls onely standing a garden plott and one thatcht house' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 293). Daniell Hogan is listed as proprietor in 1640 (ibid.). A roughly coursed limestone rectangular tower house (dims. 13.1m N-S; c. 8.9m E-W; wall T 2m) with good quoins and base-batter (Wth at base 0.2m; H c. 2.8m). Three storeys survive; higher levels were knocked when the adjoining house was built in 1741 (Craig 1972, 37). The main entrance in the S face has been broken out and provides access from the main house to the tower house. There is a lobby directly in front of the entrance with a guardroom to the W, the main chamber to N and spiral stairs to the E in the SE angle. The door jambs into the guardroom are decorated with chequer-board and lozenge patterns in punch tooling. Between the ground and first-floor levels there is small, barrel-vaulted chamber along the W wall. The first floor is entered through a pointed doorway and is roofed by a pointed vault which has wicker centring. Long sash windows have been inserted in embrasures in the N and W walls. All stair lights, except one, have been replaced or blocked up. The second floor is subdivided, the main chamber occupies the N end and has a large fireplace in the W wall, the lintel of which is missing but the moulded jambs survive in situ. A doorway in an embrasure in the E wall leads to a garderobe chamber with chute in the NE angle; there is also a slop-stone in the E wall of this chamber. Within the S wall of the same embrasure there is a miniature chamber, 0.9m above the floor level. It is entered through a small opening (0.73m x 0.5m) which has an internal spudstone. This chamber is roofed by four stone lintels and has a small flat-headed window in the E wall. In the main chamber a later fireplace has been inserted in the wall. The subsidiary S chamber is lit by a round-headed window in the W wall, and there is a cupboard built into the dividing cross-wall. Corbels at second-floor level supported the wall-plate for the timber floor above - a modern roof now covers the second and part of the third floor. Approximately 20m N of the N face of the tower house are the remains of a bawn wall (TN015-073002-). The foundations of this wall (T c. 1m) appear to continue E. Stored in the ground-floor of the tower house are a number of architectural fragments which presumably belong to the tower house itself. These include two semi-elliptical window heads, one decorated with incised lines, the other bears a date of 1594, carved in false relief, with the initials OH, one letter on either side of the date. 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