Ballytarsna Castle (in ruins) — Aughnagomaun,ballytarsna (hackett)

In low-lying, gently undulating terrain, on break of SW-facing slope, in pasture. The place name Ballytarsna means the town of the cross or cross roads (White 1892, 28). According to Lewis the castle was reputedly built by a person named Hacket who, according to tradition, was hanged by one of Cromwell's generals (Lewis 1837, vol. 1, 167). Piers Hacket of Ballytarsne is in possession in 1546 (COD IV, 295). Patrick Hackett is listed as proprietor of the lands in 1640 (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 216) and it is described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as 'one good Bawne & a Castle wanting repaire, with severall small Cottages'(ibid.). The five-storey tower house (ext. dims. 10m N-S; 8.58m E-W excluding base-batter; wall T ground floor 1.8m) with bawn (TS053-006001-) is composed of limestone rubble, roughly coursed, with quoins of cut limestone and a base-batter (H 3m; Wth 0.45m) which terminates on either side of the main entrance. It is entered through a pointed doorway at the N end of the W wall which leads into a wide lobby protected by a murder-hole and a cross-loop in the wall opposite the doorway. There is a small guard room to the N of the lobby, in a poor state of repair and with no evidence of a doorway. The internal N wall has been built up and a reconstructed loop built into the wall. The murder-hole rises to second-floor level. A second pointed doorway leads S from the entrance lobby to a second lobby area, with holes at the apex and on the W jamb showing evidence of a yett protecting this internal doorway. The ground floor chamber is entered through a pointed doorway, off the second lobby to E, and is lit by three partially reconstructed, simple flat-headed lights in single, splayed embrasures, except in the E wall where the inner embrasure, newly built, is straight-sided and continues to floor level. A concrete floor has been poured in. There is a wall cupboard at the S end of the W wall which continues, at a lower level, into the thickness of the S wall. The first floor, of wood, was carried on wall-plates supported by corbels on the E and W walls. The first-floor chamber, with a pointed vaulted roof, was entered from the mural stairs in the W wall through a flat-headed doorway. It is lit by two lights, a flat-headed single light centrally placed in the N wall and a flat-headed loop in the E wall, on either side of which are openings to mural chambers, not accessible. In the S wall there is a flat-headed doorway at the W end which gives access to a garderobe chamber, lit by a simple single light. The mural stairs from the ground to the first floor are lit by a reconstructed single light between ground and first-floor level. Opposite the doorway to the first floor there is a flat-headed single light, with slop-stone beneath the sill, in a splayed embrasure. The stairs rise as a spiral in the SW angle up to second-floor level. The second floor is entered through a flat-headed doorway from the spiral stairs and is lit by three windows, in the N, E and W walls, all with cut limestone window seats. At the N end of the W wall there is a narrow wall cupboard which doubles as a murder-hole chute. The sill-stone is still in situ, together with slots for the base, presumably wooden, of a cupboard. There is a wall cupboard at both NE and NW angles. At the S end of the E wall there is a broken-out fireplace but the lintel, apparently flat, has been robbed. There is a flat-headed doorway at the W end of the S wall leading into a garderobe chamber which is lit by a flat-headed single-light window. Between the second and third floors the stairs are lit by a flat-headed single light with a slightly concave sill, while almost opposite the doorway to the third floor, just N of centre in the W wall, is a simple ogee-headed single light in a splayed embrasure with a slop-stone beneath sill. The doorway is cut through the vault but the head is now missing. The third floor was wooden and carried on wall-plates supported on corbels on the E and W walls. It is lit by two single-light ogee-headed windows, in the N and S walls, and is roofed by a pointed stone vault. The N wall has a cupboard W of centre and a small fireplace, with its lintel missing, E of centre. The fourth floor is also accessed via the mural stairs in the W wall which turn at the NW angle which is lit by two flat-headed loops, that at the N end of the W wall being shorter than that at the W end of the N wall. The doorway at the top of the stairs has a threshold, rebate and spud-socket on the W side, with a small lobby area in the angle. A portion of the stair lintel overlooking the external face of this doorway has been cut away and appears to have acted as a defensive feature. The stairs continue to rise in the N wall up to fourth-floor level. The internal N wall has collapsed and the doorway is completely gone. There is a passageway at fourth-floor level past the main chamber. This passageway was lit by a broken-out window near the E end of the N wall. The main chamber was entered from the passageway in the N wall. It is lit by three two-light windows, in the E, S and W walls. There are two small openings beneath the sill of the E window, possible gun-loops, and a wall cupboard at the W end of the S wall. The W wall has a double segmental-headed recess, supported in the centre by a triple corbel, each face of which has a straight cut and chamfer. Within the most southerly recess is a two -light, internally rebated, cusped ogee-headed window within a small straight-sided inner embrasure with small window seat and slightly splayed outer embrasure. N of this, beneath the triple corbel there is a slop-sink. In the N end of the W wall is a wall cupboard and at the W end of the N wall is a slight recess, below the level of the wall cupboard which continues to floor level. The N wall of the chamber is destroyed, but at the E end there is a recess in the wall which continues onto the E wall, the top being at a slightly higher level. A temporary roof was installed recently. On the S side of the inner embrasure of the window in the E wall are the remains of a doorway, only a portion of the head, probably pointed, surviving. This gave access to a narrow mural passage, lintelled, and lit by a flat-headed loop at the S end of the E wall with a slop-stone sill. The passage is L-shaped and turns into the S wall which is lit by a flat-headed loop with curved sill stone. The passage terminates with a narrow chimney flue, presumably originally sealed off, rising from the third floor to roof level. There is a small wall cupboard almost directly opposite the window. To the N of the main E window embrasure is a small doorway (H 1m; Wth 0.54m), internally rebated, which leads to a mural passage lit by a simple loop within a splayed embrasure. A hole in the floor at the end of the passage, with rebates to carry a trapdoor, leads into an oubliette, or hiding-hole, directly below this mural passage. The mural stairs continues to rise steeply at the E end of the W wall before turning onto the parapet. The top of the stair is lit by a flat-headed loop with sill-stone beneath. Access to the roof was not possible, being blocked by a modern doorway. A carved figure on horseback and sun-burst on the W jamb of the flat-headed doorway leading onto parapet appear to be graffitti. The parapet survives with crow-step crenellations and gutter-stones, similar bartizans at the NW and SE angles with pyramidal-chamfered corbel at the angle and double corbel supports on either side, and a turret at the NE angle. Externally visible on the W face at inter-floor level between first and second floor there is a recently inserted flat-headed window with ext. chamfer and the shadow of a steeply-pitched roofed building, the apex of which almost reaches to second-floor level. This building was attached to the W end of the wall, covering the doorway and inserted window. In the external face of the N, E and S walls at ground-floor level there are