Castle — Killowney Big

Located on level ground in a farmyard, N of the Ollatrim River in gently undulating pastureland. Described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as a 'castle with a Barbicon' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 219). Rory O Kennedy is listed as proprietor in 1640 (ibid.). It was known as Killowney until a landlord, Wellington, erected the adjacent house in the early eighteenth century and it became known as Castlewellington (ITA Survey 1945); Castle Willington on the OS 6-inch map. A rectangular tower (dims. c. 12m N-S; 9.25m E-W) of roughly coursed limestone, originally four storeys high with an E-W barrel vault over the second floor - the other floors were of timber supported by corbels. Probably early in the seventeenth century a floor level was inserted providing an extra floor at the top of the tower house. The main entrance was in the W wall through a pointed doorway, rebated and chamfered, with a yett-hole in the top of the rebate. This led into a lobby, protected by a murder-hole, with a guardroom to the S and a second lobby to the N. From this lobby the spiral stairs in the NW angle or the main chamber on the ground floor could be accessed, both through pointed doorways. The ground floor is lit by a flat-headed loop in the E wall and has wall cupboards in the N and S walls. At first floor there is a flat-headed window in the N and S walls and a broken out light in the E wall. Between first and second-floor level there is an L-shaped garderobe chamber in the N wall consisting of a lintelled passage lit by four windows, with a slop-stone near the entrance. The second floor is lit by a two-light window in the E wall and a single-light window in the S and W walls. A doorway in the S side of the window embrasure in the E wall gave access to a mural chamber. There is a fireplace with mantle at the W end of the S wall. At mezzanine level between second and third floor there is a chamber which runs N-S on the E side of the tower house which is accessed via a narrow mural passage along the N wall from the spiral stairs. Also between second and third-floor level there is a chamber running N-S on the W side of the tower house, accessed directly from the spiral stairs. The central space at this level is occupied by the rising second floor. The third floor is entered from the spiral stairs. It is lit by a two-light ogee-headed window in the N wall and a two-light mullion and transomed window in the E wall. A window in the S wall has been broken out. There is a slop-stone near the W end of the S wall. A large single-light ogee-headed window in the N end of the W wall probably also lit this main chamber before an internal partition was created by blocking-up the embrasure arch. This has created a small mural chamber in the W wall accessed from the spiral stairs, with another small chamber beyond this at the S end of the W wall. Most of the third floor rests on the vaulted roof of the second floor, however the E side rests on a wooden floor above the inter-floor chamber below. The parapet is accessed via mural stairs entered from the W side of the window embrasure in the N wall. These stairs become spiral in the NW angle which is roofed by a caphouse. The caphouse has two doors, one giving access to the wall-walk along the N wall and the other to a covered gallery which ran N-S along the W wall, little of it now remains. Bartizans project from the NE and SW corners and a machicolation, supported by two corbels, is centrally placed on the W wall. A fourth floor was inserted at a slightly later date, occupying the roof space of the former third-floor hall. This inserted floor was accessed from a raised flat-headed doorway which was inserted in the small lobby area at the top of the main spiral stairs. Also accessed from this lobby area is a small mural chamber along the W wall. Pigeon boxes, three tiers of which survive, were built along the E wall of this chamber, probably in the eighteenth or nineteenth century. There is a murder-hole in the floor of this small lobby. 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