Castle (in ruins) — Ballyneill (kilmurry Par.)

In flat terrain, presently in farmyard with farm buildings running E from the E wall of the tower house. According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) the proprietor of the castle in 1640 was 'Hugh Neale of Ballyneale Esqre Irish Papist' and the ruins were described as 'a castle being the said Neales mansion house' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 267). A late 16th/early 17th century tower house, three storeys high, constructed of sandstone rubble, roughly coursed, with limestone surrounds on the architectural features. Patches of external lime render and rough pebble dash survive. Only the circular NE angle tower and a length of the N wall (T 1.54m; L 5.85m) survive, the latter with a slight external batter and surviving up to first-floor level. The OS Letters give the original dimensions of the building as 34ft (10.36m) x 18ft (5.48m) (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 62). The main entrance is at ground-floor level at the W end of the surviving N wall. It is a round-headed doorway (Wth 1.03m; H 1.78m) of cut limestone, rebated and chamfered externally, with horizontal drafting and intact threshold. There is a yett-hole at the apex and also on the E side (embrasure 1.3m D), while an iron hinge survives on the W side. The doorway led into a lobby which was protected by a murder-hole, accessed from a cupboard at first-floor level. The lobby was lit by a small roughly square window, chamfered externally, at the E end of the N wall. It led to the stairs in the angle tower and presumably through a doorway into the main chamber, no longer surviving. A concrete breeze-block wall, externally faced with sandstone, has been inserted to support the roof of the lobby. Also, masonry around the first-floor doorway has been refaced with sandstone and cement mortar and a small archway/voussoirs has been inserted at the base of the stairs in a gap leading to the yard. Although no windows survive in the main floors, there is a splay for a window embrasure at the W end of the N wall at first-floor level. At second-floor level the N face of a straight-sided window embrasure survives on the E wall, and the inward splay of a window embrasure at the E end of the N wall survives with one of the original limestone jambs in situ, chamfered externally. The angle tower containing the spiral stairs provided access to the first and second floors, both probably carried on wooden floors, though corbels only survive at second-floor level. The tower is lit by a number of small windows and defended by gun-loops and round gun-ports (diam. 0.23m). Water spouts project from the parapet at roof level. A possible bawn wall may be c.16m W of the tower house. Running N-S, this wall is composed of a mixture of sandstone and limestone rubble, roughly coursed (L c. 20m; H 2.7m). It has a very slight base-batter on its W (external) face and is leaning to E. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011