Aghnameadle castle (in ruins) — Aghnameadle

Situated on a low rise of ground in undulating countryside with a nearby church and graveyard (TN022-054----) to the NW. A small square tower house (ext. dims. 7.6m NE-SW; 6m NW-SE; wall T 1.2m) four storeys high with a gable-ended roof over the third floor, built of roughly coursed rubble with a slight base-batter. This tower house was later modified to become a small house. A flat-headed doorway was inserted in the centre of the SE wall. The original doorway (now blocked) was in the centre of the NE wall and was protected externally by a machicolation at wall-walk level. It lead into a lobby from which spiral stairs in the E angle and the main ground floor were accessed. The spiral stairs are completely blocked up between ground and first-floor level with the remaining steps broken out up to second-floor level. The ground floor has a barrel vault with wicker-centring orientated on NE-SW axis. At first-floor level a fireplace is inserted in the NW wall. The original garderobe chute which exits at the base of this wall was used as a flue and a tall rectangular chimney stack was added to facilitate this fireplace. The garderobe chamber at first-floor level and possibly that at second-floor level were shortened as a result of the modifications. The first floor has a small window in the centre of the SW gable, a destroyed central window in the SE wall and an enlarged window, now blocked up, in the centre of the NE gable. The second floor has an enlarged window with a brick arch in the centre of the NE gable, a window hidden by ivy, probably original, in the SW gable, a blocked-up window in the centre of the NW wall and a destroyed central window in the SE wall. The third floor has a blocked-up window in the centre of the NE gable and a window in the NW wall and at the S end of the SE wall. The floors at second- and third-floor level were wooden and were supported by corbels on the side walls and wall-plates with sockets at the gable ends. The corbels of a destroyed bartizan at wall-walk level at the S angle correspond with a curving niche in the interior at third-floor level. Nineteenth-century outhouses are attached to the NE wall of the tower. A demesne wall to the E of the tower probably replaced an earlier bawn wall. 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