Short Castle (in ruins) — Shortcastle (mortlestown Par.)

In flat terrain, on a limestone outcrop, with a two-storey farmhouse built onto the N end of the E side and a stone outbuilding built up against the S face. A quarry formerly opened up to the W face of the tower house has been backfilled. According to the Civil Survey 1654-6 the proprietor of Shortcastle in 1640 was 'Sir Richard Butler Baronett Irish Papist' and 'Upon the sd lands [stands] a stump of a Castle & noe Cabbins or other improvemt' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 322-3). The OS Letters of 1840 (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 123) describe a limestone quarry at the northwest corner and 'near it is a lime kiln where the lime is burned with coal. Attached to the east wall is a thatched building, the small residence of a farmer and family'. The tower house (ext. dims. 10.6m N-S; 9.6m E-W; wall T 0.9m N wall, 2.2m S wall, 2.32m W wall) is constructed of limestone rubble, randomly coursed, with a base-batter (Wth 0.5m; H 2.8m) particularly evident on the N and E walls. The entrance is W of centre in the N wall, protected by a murder-hole, with the doorway removed and this whole section of wall rebuilt, probably in the 19th century. The doorway probably led into a lobby (Wth 1.75m N-S), possibly with a small guard room to the W. The S internal wall of the lobby at ground level has also been rebuilt and a flat-headed doorway inserted. Presumably a doorway gave access to a second lobby also protected by a large murder-hole. The dividing wall between the murder-holes probably rested on the now-missing doorway. An inner doorway led into a ground-floor chamber, evidenced by a drawbar-hole surviving on its E side. The lobby also provided access to a stairway. Despite the fact that the OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 123) describe a stone stairs rising in the NE angle and 'winding along the east and south, west and north walls ascended to the top of the building, but are now destroyed', there is clear evidence of a broken out spiral stairs in the NE angle which rises to the first-floor level. The spiral stairs is lit by angle loops at ground and first-floor level. The ground-floor chamber (dims. 5.3m N-S; 5.44m E-W) was lit by two windows, one each in the W and E walls respectively, both broken out and with the wall rebuilt, though the embrasures survive. A probable wall cupboard at the W end of the S wall, evidenced by a flush wall on the W side, has been broken through to create a crude doorway at the rear, S side, of tower house. The W half of the ground-floor chamber has an internal lean-to shed which rests on a concrete block wall running N-S along the middle of the chamber, built on the modern concrete floor. The lean-to has an internal concrete block partition running E-W, with an entrance on either side. The roof doesn't rest directly on this wall, being supported by a timber support built into the N and S internal walls of the towerhouse. The first floor was entered through a doorway at the E end of the N wall of the chamber and was lit by three windows in the E, S and W walls, of which only the round-headed single-light window in the E wall survives. The first floor was supported on wooden beams. Also accessed from the spiral stairs at first-floor level was a mural chamber in the N wall, giving access to the murder-holes, lit by a single-light ogee-headed window in the N wall.The tower house does not survive above first-floor level. According to the landowner there is a chute in the thickness of the S wall, now blocked up, probably the garderobe chute. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011