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In low-lying, gently undulating terrain, on break of SW-facing slope, in pasture. Bawn associated with Ballytarsna Castle, a tower house (TS053-006----). Described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as 'one good Bawne & a Castle wanting repaire, with severall small Cottages' (Simington 1931 vol. 1, 216). Patrick Hackett is listed as proprietor of the lands in 1640 (ibid.). The bawn (dims. max. 53.2m E-W) projects N from the N wall of the tower house, enclosing all but the E side of the building. At the E end of the N wall of the tower house, the bawn (H c. 2.4m) projects out c. 0.48m from the base of the tower house wall and forms a gateway. The basal plinth on inner face of gate projects out a further 0.13m. Further stonework projects out to W, possibly part of a gate-house. At the E end of the S wall a length of bawn wall (H c. 2.9m; L 2.2m; Wth c. 1.9m) projects out, the facing on the N side is gone and only the lower courses are intact on N side. 23.3m N of the tower house the inner face of the return wall of the bawn can be seen, it survives for a length of 15.7m. The N face of this wall has collapsed and is grassed over (Wth 3.2m). Rubble extends westward for a further 6.3m and then becomes too disturbed to trace. The NW angle of the bawn survives, however, though both inner and outer faces are no longer evident (wall T 1.25m). This wall, in a ruinous condition, and with gaps, runs southward for c. 20m. The southernmost upstanding portion of masonry has external wall facing and evidence of an internal angle. This may be original to the bawn or a later building related to a later stone field boundary which ran E-W at this point and has recently been demolished. Though there is stone protruding from the grass on the S side of the bawn, there is no clear evidence of the bawn wall. Approx. 10m N of the tower house there is a well (diam. 1.2m) which would have been just inside the bawn wall, possibly the original water supply for the tower house.
Compiled by: Jean Farrelly
Date of upload: 26 August 2011
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