Castle John — Castlejohn

On level ground and currently in a farmyard with a 19th-century farmhouse immediately to the W, surrounded by gently undulating pastureland, with a large pond c. 40m to the S. The Ormond Deeds (vol. 6, 13) of 1584 note that this was part of the lands of 'James Tobyn, of Killahe'. According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) on the lands of Castlejohn there stood 'a castle' which in 1640 was under the proprietorship of 'James Tobyn of Killaghy Esqr. Irish Papist' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 142). This tower house (int. dims. 5.2m N-S; 6.97m E-W) is built with sandstone rubble, roughly coursed, with a base-batter (H 2.1m; Wth 0.3m). Only the modified ground floor, the first floor beneath a pointed vault and the NW angle of the second floor survive. The original entrance is no longer in situ but it appears to have been at the N end of the E wall which is now much modified. The original pointed doorway (H 1.8m; Wth 1.08m) has been re-used as a doorway into a farmbuilding c. 10m to the SW, has a yett-hole at the apex and is constructed largely of limestone with external double chamfer and punch tooling within drafted margins. A mural stairs, currently inaccessible but visible from the outside, rises in the E wall from its N end. The doorway into the ground floor was presumably at the N end of the E wall but no trace of it survives, though there is a later recess (H 1.15m; Wth 0.75m; D 0.6m) in this area. The ground floor, currently used as a storage shed, is much altered and the floor level possibly raised. A doorway has been inserted in the SW angle and a possibly original embrasure (Wth 1.23m) has been modified to become a doorway (H 1.96m) or has been inserted at the E end of the N wall. There is also an area of blocking near the NE angle on the N wall which may be repair. Though now all blocked, the ground floor appears to have been lit by a number of windows as evidenced by two splayed embrasures with crude segmental heads, one towards the W end of the S wall and one at the W end of the N wall, both with blocked outer openings. A wide, straight-sided segmental-headed embrasure at the S end of the E wall may also have contained a window opening. Roughly centrally placed in the W wall at ground level there is a flat-headed recess which appears to be a later insert. There is a wall cupboard at the N end of the W wall. Though no internal floor supports survive, there appears to have been a second floor under the vault as there is a blocked window within a large, centrally-placed, splayed segmental-headed embrasure at this level in the W wall. Though the floor above the vault is largely destroyed, there are the remains of a splayed embrasure at the W end of the N wall (surviving L c. 2m). Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of revised upload: 30 September 2014