Castle — Cabragh

Situated on a slight rise in fairly level ground. The land drops slightly to the River Suir flood plain, the river being c. 100m NW of the tower house. Depicted as Cabra Castle on Rocque's Map of Thurles 1775. A roughly square tower house (ext. dims. 6.76m NE-SW; 6.2m NW-SE; wall T 1.2m) which has been much altered and the stone work repointed. It was built of roughly coursed, crudely cut limestone blocks with base-batter (H 1.2m; max. Wth 0.4m) on all sides except NW. The quoins at the E corner are nineteenth-century insertions, crudely hammered. A doorway, with evidence of a wooden lintel, (Wth 1.09m) inserted in the E end of the NE wall, gives access to a small barrel-vaulted chamber at ground-floor level. There is no surviving wicker centring. The original doorway (Wth 0.8m) at the N end of the NE wall gives access to a passage with an alcove, a doorway to the ground-floor chamber to the SW and a mural stair straight ahead which rises up the NW wall before turning SE. The main doorway has been altered. It is flat-headed with a wooden lintel and has a chamfered spud-stone, formerly a section of mullion. There is a triangular hole in the roof of the passage immediately inside this door and its function is unclear. The NW wall has two blocked doorways, one at first-floor level at the N end and the other, flat-headed with cut stone surrounds crudely punch dressed, is at the top of the stairs at first-floor level near the W end. Although the base-batter does not extend around the NW side there is no visible evidence of a building extending out there. On the SW face a flat-headed window lights the top of the stairs at first-floor level and a slight ope lights the first-floor chamber. The mural stairs are narrow (Wth 0.6m). The first-floor chamber has a barrel-vaulted stone roof - both roof and walls are covered with lime plaster. It is lit by three single lights and there is a wall cupboard in the N end of the NW wall. The tower house only survives to first-floor level, anything above this has been neatly knocked off leaving an even level. According to the OS Letters the N wall was completely destroyed 'the staircase ascends now on the outside of the structure' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 192-3). This would suggest that the two doorways were inserted in a later rebuild. The letters also mention 'the corner over the stairs is battered; some remains of a watch tower of circular form are on the corner' (ibid.). There may have been a bartizan at the NW angle. There is a length of wall (L 22.2m; T 0.45-0.5m) 20.6m N of the tower house which may be the remains of a bawn (TN047-015001-). It is composed of roughly coursed limestone rubble (H 2.5m with coping adding approx. 0.2m). The coping, which appears to have been at least partly built of brick, has been cemented over. This wall appears to run into a later house at its NE end - there is no evidence of a wall beyond this. At the NW end there is a foundation stone which seems to indicate a return, suggesting that the wall ran up to the NW wall of the tower house, meeting it roughly off-centre. On the SE face of the possible bawn wall there is a base-batter (H 1.3m H; Wth 0.23m). Two large buttresses support the wall on the NW face which is bulging out quite badly. 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