Castle — Cragg

Situated on rock outcrop in an upland area with extensive views. Described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as 'the walls of a castle and a Barbicon' (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 179). John Ryan is listed as proprietor in 1640 (ibid.). Present remains consist of a rectangular tower house (ext. dims. 8.7m N-S; 6.6m E-W; wall T 1.7m) three storeys high built with roughly coursed sandstone rubble with a high pronounced base-batter. There is good evidence of lime plaster on the internal faces of the walls of the tower house chambers. The external face of the S wall is destroyed and originally contained a round-arched rebated limestone doorway of which only one jambstone survives on the W side with evidence of a yett-hole. The main doorway led into a lobby protected by an overhead murder-hole. Access to spiral stairs (now destroyed) in the SW angle was via this lobby, with the main ground-floor barrel-vaulted chamber being reached via a round-arched limestone doorway in the N wall of the lobby. This chamber has a single-light flat-headed window set into the centre of the W, N and E walls with a brick fireplace inserted into the N end of the W wall. The first floor, which was accessed through a doorway in the centre of the S wall, had a wooden ceiling carried in the thickness of the wall. This floor was lit by single-light flat-headed windows set into the centre of the W, N and E walls. The second floor has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and is accessed from a round-arched limestone doorway in the centre of the S wall. In the NW angle there is a flat-headed doorway, now inaccessible, which probably led to a garderobe. Nineteenth-century outhouses now obscure a possible bawn area (TN031-048002-) located to the N and W of the tower. 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