Lisbunny Castle — Lisbunny

Situated close to the Ollatrim River, on a gentle NE-facing slope in pasture with a nearby church (TN021-029) to the S. Described in the Civil Survey 1654-6 as a 'ruined castle a Church the Walls onely standing, one Orchard, a Mill & a Rivolett running through the said land & six cabbins' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 257). A hall-keep of late thirteenth or early fourteenth-century date with alterations in the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century. The building is rectangular and roughly coursed (dims. 11.75m N-S; 16.8m E-W. wall T 2.1m), two storeys high with an external base-batter (H 1.4m; T 0.35m). The original entrance at first-floor level at the S end of the E wall consists of a slightly pointed segmental arch in a deep, pointed embrasure. There is a recess for a spiral staircase, possibly of wooden construction, in the SE angle which gave access to the ground and upper floor or wall-walk level. All floors were carried on large wooden beams set into the thickness of the wall which spanned the width of the hall. A large opening broken through the E wall at ground-floor level may have been the position of an original window similar to the flat-headed single-light windows in the N, S and W walls. The first-floor level has large window embrasures on all sides. A recess towards the centre of the N wall indicates the location of a later fireplace with the flue blocking an earlier flat-headed single-light window with sandstone surrounds, chamfered externally. A hanging-eye decorated in a late sixteenth-century manner indicates a doorway leading to the first floor. The stairs continues above the hall probably giving access to the destroyed wall-walk level. 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