Site of Castle — Lissava

On high, level ground in deserted farmyard. Farm buildings are ruinous and largely overgrown. Surrounded by rough pasture. In the mid-17th century the land was in the ownership of 'Thomas, Lord Baron of Cahyr. Irish Papist' and upon the land stood 'the stump of a Castle' (Simington 1931, vol.1, 352). The castle (int. dims. 9.8m N-S; wall T 2m) is located on the N side of the farmyard and is aligned NNW-SSE. It is constructed of rubble limestone and sandstone, randomly coursed, with a base-batter at the NE angle. Only the E wall (ext. L c. 13.7m) and portion of N (ext. L 6.6m; H c. 5m) and S wall survive up to first-floor level. A lean-to shed has been built up against the E side with internal concrete division. N and E wall of shed are stone, S end with door and window (both missing) are in concrete wall. There are no features visible in the E wall of the castle in this section of the shed. Evidence of later internal lean-to at N end of E wall of castle. A corbel projects out from the N end of the E wall internally, incised with diagonal line tooling. It is well shaped and quite slender and would have supported a wooden floor. The NE quoins are missing and the SE quoins also appear to be missing though this angle is heavily obscured by ivy. The window in the E end of the N wall appears to be a later insert. Externally it is c. 2.2m from NE angle and 1.5m above ext. ground level. It consists of horizontal window (L 0.35m; H 0.19m) with crudely cut limestone surrounds and two bar-holes on both lintel and sill. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011