Carrigeen Castle (in ruins) — Carrigeen (rathcool Par.)

In gently undulating terrain in a stable yard. It is enclosed by wooden hoarding supported by metal posts c.2-2.5m from the walls of the tower house. Described in the Civil Survey (1654-6) as 'a small castle in repaire' under the ownership of 'Richard Comyn of Tullaghmaine Irish Papist' in 1640 (Simington 1931, vol.1, 188). This three-storey tower house (ext. dims. 11.4m N-S; 9.6m E-W) with rounded corners is built of randomly coursed limestone rubble, with a gradual base-batter (H c.3.7m; Wth c.0.4-0.5m) and basal plinth visible on the W side (H 0.4-0.66m; Wth 0.2m) increasing in height towards the N end. The N face has a slight basal plinth and a relieving arch, max. 0.5m above ext. ground level. Good external render remains on the N, E and W faces, more patchy on the S face. There are several bad cracks in the building, particularly in the S face at ground-floor level and above the two-light window at second-floor level. The mid-section of the N wall has completely collapsed with a crack extending to the NW angle. The tower house had four steep-pitched gables. The N gable has collapsed but the remaining three are each surmounted by a square chimney, although those on the S and W gable may be false chimneys. There may have been an attic level as there is a flat-headed single-light window in the E gable. A corbel at attic level projects out from the SE angle, the remains of an angle machicolation described as 'a watchtower' in the OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 167). The tower house was entered through a round-headed doorway at the E end of the S wall into a small lobby area. The lobby appears to have been defended by a gun-loop in the opposing wall, though only the E splay and sill survive. Most of the N wall of the lobby has collapsed. A doorway to the W leads into a second lobby which gave access via a doorway in the N wall to the main ground-floor chamber and via a doorway to W to a spiral stairs in the SW angle. This lobby contained a double gun-loop in the S wall providing covering fire for the main entrance. The main ground-floor chamber was lit by at least two round-headed windows, one in the W and one in the E wall. There may have been a third in the N wall but the central portion of masonry here has collapsed. Both windows have gun-loops to either side. The first floor was originally entered through a doorway from the spiral stair cut into the vault, but only the E surround survives. The doorway has been very expertly filled, probably contemporaneously with the insertion of the pointed doorway immediately below which enters at a level between the ground and first floor. The floor must have been lowered, carried on a wooden floor evidenced by beam-holes in E and W walls, some blocked up. Scarring and holes on the W wall correspond to where corbels may have been inserted. This new floor arrangement would have effectively cut across the ground-floor windows, reducing light to the ground-floor chamber considerably, although the gun-loops would still be accessible. The only window at first-floor level was in the N wall, with only the inner embrasure surviving. S of centre in the E wall there was a fireplace, the surrounds of which have collapsed. A second flireplace may have been inserted at ground-floor level at some stage. The first floor was vaulted, the centre of which has collapsed and lies where it fell at ground level. A first-floor mural chamber over the lobby area was possibly entered from the first-floor main chamber as there is no entrance from the stairs. It was lit by a flat-headed window in the S wall and a narrow window in the E wall with gun-loops on either side. It was carried on a wooden floor. A mural chamber above this, at second-floor level, could have been entered from the spiral stairs or the main chamber at that level, the S of which does not survive. It was lit by a window in the S wall, now broken out. The main second-floor chamber is not accessible. The only surviving window visible is a flat-headed two-light in the S wall at the E end, with a fireplace to the W of smooth polished limestone with chamfered surround. The spiral stairs was lit by a number of flat-headed windows with gun-loops either beneath the sill or in a separate embrasure. The stairs survives, in a poor condition, up to the pointed doorway at first-floor level, but is completely broken out above this. A garderobe chute exits at the W end of the N wall. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011