Ballymacady Castle (in ruins) — Ballymacady,thomastown Demesne South

On a natural platform which extends eastward, on an E-facing slope, with a hill rising immediately to the W and a natural pond 13m to the SW. Land in 'BallimcKeadee' had been granted to George Sherlock in the 1580s following the attainder of Geoffrey Bwy Bourke (COD VI,107). It was subsequently purchased by Ormond who passed it on to John Cantwell of Moycarkey in 1593 (COD VI, 56). The Civil Survey 1654-56 (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 25) refers to 'a good castle wanting repayre, a good spring water well one Orchard one garden' at 'Ballymckeaddy' and gives 'John Cantwell of Ballymckeady Esqr. Irish Papist' as the proprietor. The remains of a rectangular tower house (ext. dims. 14.22m E-W; 11.14m N-S; int. dims. 11.6m E-W; 6.7m N-S) now stand to two storeys, though it was originally higher. It is constructed of coursed limestone rubble (wall T 2.2m) with an external base-batter and good quoins, though at the SW angle the quoins above 2.6m are missing. The tower house was entered through a rounded doorway, now partially blocked, at the N end of the E wall, which was protected by a gun-loop on the S side of the doorway. There was a small entrance lobby with a guardroom to the N, and a second lobby to the S, no trace of which survives except a scar in the E wall. A third lobby to the S, which no longer survives, gave access to a spiral stair in the SE angle, now broken out. The ground-floor chamber is lit by a round-headed single light window in the W wall and there is a wall cupboard on either side of the window embrasure. The N wall has a large niche W of centre and there is a wall cupboard at the W end of the N wall. There is another recess with a largely broken-out vaulted embrasure at the E end of the N wall. There is a broken-out opening midway along the N wall, possibly related to the ground-floor chamber but it appears to be at vault springing level. The S wall has a broken-out embrasure, now forming an entrance, but the outer wall of this embrasure is completely missing. The entrance lobbies were vaulted over to support a first-floor chamber running along the E wall. This chamber was entered from the spiral stairs and was lit by a loop at the N end and another at the S end of the E wall of the chamber. There is an unusual stone hinge positioned over the main doorway which possibly functioned as a socket into which a trap-door for a murder-hole would have been horizontally slotted. It was possibly one of two sockets, the masonry to the S is broken out where a second hinge may have been. The main first-floor chamber was entered from the spiral stairs. It rested on a wooden floor and is barrel-vaulted, though most of the E end has collapsed. The vault has good wicker-centring impression and patches of smooth lime plaster which are also evident in the stairwell. The first-floor was lit by a window in the W wall, now broken out, and possibly by a window at the E end of the N wall where the masonry has collapsed. The spiral stairs was lit by a small flat-headed window at the E end of the S wall and one in the same position between first and second floor level. Most of the E end of the vault has collapsed. There are beam holes in the N and S walls. Externally all four faces of the tower house have a high gable-shaped recess, with gun loop at the apex, positioned centrally in each wall. This feature is quite rare, other examples are in west Cork at Glandore Castle, Aghatubrid More townland (CO142-030----) (Power 1992, vol.1, 321) and Raheen Castle, Raheen townland (C0142-082----) (Power 1992, vol.1, 329); in north Cork at Ballynamona townland (CO018-060----) (Power and Lane 2000, vol.4, 523) and in Co. Clare at Newtown townland (Burren By.) (CL005-034----). These are all late tower houses dating to the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011