Indicated — Fethard

In the SE angle of the medieval parish church graveyard. Fleming (1914, 34 and Frontispiece) describes the building as being ‘of an ornamental architectural character, with a hanging bastion and large east window, may be part either of the abbey’s domestic buildings or of the bishop’s palace’. This interpretation is possibly based on Fethard’s status as an Archiepiscopal Borough from c.1215 to 1553 (Laffan 1906, 143). The building is also referred to locally as Edmond’s Castle. This long rectangular three storey building is built of roughly coursed limestone rubble, the NE angle is deeply chamfered. The long axis is aligned E-W, the S wall being on the line of the town wall. A straight joint and quoins at the W end of the S face of the building suggests that it was built onto the existing town wall which originally turned northward at this point. The masonry, particularly on the N face, appears to be fire damaged, which may have occurred during the sacking of the town in 1468 by Garret FitzGerald (Otway-Ruthven 1980, 393). The building is 15th century in date with some remodelling in the 16th century. It has an unusual plan and appears to have been designed to accommodate the surrounding buildings and structures. Access at ground-floor level was via a passageway (Wth 1.72m) running E-W within the N side of the building, with a doorway at either end. The E doorway survives, the N jamb of which was carved to link in with a stone wall running eastward from the building. The spud stone and the lower part of the N jamb and draw-bar socket of the W doorway survive. This passageway facilitated access from the street to the E into the churchyard to the W. The main ground-floor chamber (int. dims. 11m E-W; 3.5m N-S) appears to have been entered from this passageway via a doorway at the E end of the dividing wall (T 0.44m), only a well-worn lower E jamb and draw-bar socket of which survives. This chamber is lit by two rectangular windows in the S wall and another in the E wall, though this has been broken out leaving only the S angle of the embrasure. A door embrasure was inserted in the W wall, externally the S jambs, two yett pintles and portion of the threshold survive. The windows are stylistically different from those in the upper levels and, together with the doorway, probably date from a refurbishment of the building in the late 16th century. The first floor (entresol), which was carried on a wooden floor, was accessed from the ground floor via a wooden stair or ladder. The plan of the first floor is similar to that of the ground floor, the internal division continues, the main chamber has a barrel-vaulted roof which is carried on the S wall and partition. This chamber was lit by two ogee-headed single-light windows in the S wall, the embrasures for which are cut into the vault. The mural chamber, above the ground-floor passageway, was lit by a flat-headed loop in the W wall and a broken-out loop in the E wall. The main upper floor, at second-floor level, appears to have been originally entered through a doorway, evidenced by a blocked-up breach with remains of the threshold, at the S end of the W wall, accessed externally via a wooden stair and also, as the surviving masonry suggests, from the wall-walk on the town wall. Probably post-Reformation, this building was physically separated from the churchyard and it became necessary to create a new second-floor entrance. This took the form of a round-headed doorway in the external W end of the N wall, which post-dates the fire-cracked masonry in this wall. This doorway was inserted into a fireplace, the flue of which, appears to be original, despite the fireplace’s unusual location at the end of the N wall. The original doorway in the W wall led into a small lobby, with a garderobe chamber to the S, a doorway to the main hall to the E and a doorway to an intramural stair in the W wall to the N. The garderobe, lit by two small opes in the E and W wall, has an externally overhanging chute supported on tapering corbels. The stair gives access to the first-floor level. The second-floor chamber (dims. 11.4m E-W; 5.85m N-S) was a commodious hall lit by a two-light and a single-light ogee-headed window in the S wall, a two-light window in the E wall, a two-light window in the N wall, the W jamb of which survives, and a single-light ogee-headed window in the W wall, with a slop-stone below. The window in the N wall was later blocked by the insertion of a fireplace. There is also a slop-stone at the W end of the S wall and there are a number of wall cupboards. Remnants of iron shutter pintles also survive. A later wooden floor was inserted into the upper part of the hall as evidenced by later corbels and beam holes in the W and E walls. The N wall of the W window embrasure gives access to a spiral stair leading to the parapet. Blind arcading internally on the E wall, supported by tapered corbels, provided additional support for a look-out chamber at parapet level which was accessed via steps above roof level, the remains of which are visible in the inner face of the E wall of the parapet. The spiral stair in the NW corner had a cap house with two doorways, providing access to the N and W walls of the wall-walk. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 3 March 2015