Clonamicklon Castle (in ruins) — Clonamicklon

On flat, level terrain with very good views to the N and W. The view S and E is dominated by the Slieveardagh hills. The castle is believed to have been built c. 1306 by John Butler, son of Edmond Butler, the first Earl of Carrick. The Civil Survey (1654-6) lists ‘Pierce Lord Viscount Ikeryn Irish Papist’ as the proprietor of ‘Clonomilcon’ in 1640 and ‘Upon this land stands a good castle, a slate house with a large bawne’ (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 128). A late 13th/early 14th-century Anglo-Norman masonry castle built of limestone rubble, roughly coursed with rather crude quoins. The castle includes a keep which is located roughly midway along the NW curtain wall; though the latter abuts the W angle of the keep it is not keyed into it. The almost square curtain (ext. dims. 45.8m NE-SW; 42m NW-SE; wall T 1.5m; max. H 4.4m; base-batter H 1.45m; Wth 0.7m) has two three-storey angle towers, one circular (ext. dims. c. 6m NW-SE; c. 5.5m NE-SE) at the S angle, the other D-shaped (int. dims. 2.6m E-W; 3m N-S; wall T 1.3m) at the E angle. The angle towers were modified in the 16th /early 17th century with the insertion of windows, one with a hood-moulding, and a quatrefoil gun-loop at second-floor level in the E tower. The curtain wall is well preserved along the SE and SW side, though the latter has suffered in recent years due to fire damage. The E end of the NE side survives for 11.2m from the E tower, but the remaining length as well as the N angle and the N end of the NW wall are not visible above ground level. The entrance, which is towards the S end of the SE wall, is accompanied by a gatehouse which occupies the S angle. Craig and Garner (1975, 107-109) describe ‘a small once-vaulted building, no larger than a shed’ (dims. c. 5m NW-SE; c. 4.5m NE-SW) 2m NE of the keep but this is no longer visible above ground. The area within the curtain wall is currently occupied by large farm buildings. The original window embrasures of the castle are typically 13th/early 14th century in form, straight-sided with round-arches formed by small voussoirs with the soffit often sloping upward towards the interior. Three late 13th/early 14th-century oeillet cross-loops survive, one in the S angle tower and two in the E angle tower. The gateway to the castle (Wth c. 3m) has been broken out, but the remains of a portcullis slot are visible on either side. The entrance way projects 1.8m into the interior and does not survive beyond that. The first-floor of the gatehouse extends over the gateway where there is a broken out ope within a large recess. In the 16th/early 17th century a machicolation was added at parapet level, only the supporting corbels of which survive. Of the gatehouse immediately S of the entrance (int. dims. 8m NE-SW; 4m NW-SE) only the SE and SW walls survive, incorporated into the curtain wall. The ground floor has an attractive arrangement of round-headed arches in the SE wall which alternately contain a recess or a window. The two windows, though blocked, are visible externally above the base-batter. In the SW wall there are two blocked embrasures at ground level. The entrance to the angle tower has been broken out, the ground floor of which is vaulted over. At first-floor level there are two broken out windows in the SE wall and a long narrow loop at the S end of the SW wall. In the S angle of the building there is a round-headed doorway giving access to the S tower and another, broken out, immediately E, giving access to a spiral stair. Externally this spiral stair is carried on a squinch. The second floor of the building was entered from the spiral stair. There is a flat-headed loop in the SW wall which appears to have been blocked up when a large fireplace was inserted, the surrounds of which are broken out. On the inner face of the SW wall the coping stones of a pitched roof are visible, indicating that the second floor was within the roof space. The eaves appear to be resting on a squinch at the NW end. The keep consists of a rectangular building (ext. dims. 18.74m NE-SW; 10.7m NW-SE; wall T 1.95-2.05m) with a stair turret (ext. dims. 3.41m NE-SW; 2.6-2.8m NW-SE) projecting from the NW wall. The stair turret appears to be built up against the existing rectangular keep. On the W side the lower courses of masonry are not keyed in but abut the rectangular block; it does appear to be keyed in above this so it may be a construction technique rather than two phases. The SE wall is missing, however, a short length of the return at the E angle survives with evidence of embrasures at each upper floor level. Only a short length (3.5m) of the SW wall survives at the W angle. Towards the N angle of the keep there is a projecting garderobe with a sloping stone roof, supported on a series of slate-like corbels on either side of the chute. There is a similar garderobe between the E angle tower and the curtain wall and another serving the S angle tower. The garderobe projection on the keep is very similar to that on the W face of Roscrea Castle which Manning (2003, 62) dates to the late 13th century. The keep was modified in the 16th/early 17th century, when mullioned windows and fireplaces were inserted and a gable surmounted by a chimney stack was added onto the W end of the NW wall. A circular bartizan at the W angle, only the lower N side and supporting corbels of which survive, was also added at this period. Externally, at the base of this gable, there are two blocked openings which may be crenels of the original battlements. The building W of the stair turret contains three storeys with an attic, while that on the N side contains four storeys within the same height. In the NE wall, at first-floor level, there is a late 13th/early 14th-century embrasure near the N angle and a very large fireplace, broken out, in the centre of the wall. The N corbel visible in this chamber has a double bowtell with fillet moulding, also indicative an early date. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 09 January 2012