Castle — Rochestown

On the summit of a ridge, overlooking a valley to the E. The River Suir flows c. 500m to the W, in undulating terrain. According to the Calendar of Ormond Deeds the Juror for Rochestown in 1551 is John Anglise, and in 1583 Edmund English (COD V, 61, 76). In the Civil Survey 1654-6, reference is made to 'the walles of a Castle and a little castle both burned, a slate house, and a bawne about them' and names the lessee in 1640 as Thomas Grove of Rochestown, English Protestant (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 348). In 1641 the castle, containing a garrison of nine men as well as forty women and children was besieged by members of the Confederacy, during which time the bawn wall was breached (Power 1989, 66). After five weeks the occupants surrendered and were brought unharmed to Caher (ibid.). A few years later, in 1647, the castle was stormed by Inchiquin who put its fifty warders to the sword and burned 'much corn and divers towns thereabouts' (Power 1908, 53). The tower house (ext. diam. c.16.8m x 8.75m) is located in the midst of an old, but working, farm complex with a farm building built up against its E face and a shed against the W side. It is built of limestone rubble, roughly coursed, with well-cut and dressed quoins and has an external pebble-dash render with a limewash finish. The wall thickness ranges from 1.27m (N wall) to 1.63m (S wall). It survives to second- floor level and has a base-batter (H 1.8m; Wth 0.3m). It was entered through a round-headed doorway at the S end of the W wall. The external face of the doorway has dressing consisting of a drafted margin and two parallel lines of continuous punch tooling, and a yett-hole at the apex. The doorway led into a small lobby area, with a doorway to the ground-floor chamber directly opposite, now removed, and a stairway to the N rising along the W wall, access to which is now completely blocked. The W end of the S wall in the entrance lobby has been broken through to form an entrance. The main ground-floor chamber was lit by a window in the S and E walls, both blocked. A barrel-vaulted chamber to N of the main chamber was entered from a doorway in the dividing wall, now completely blocked with stone. The vault springs from the N and S walls and the narrow chamber is now accessed through an opening broken through the north wall. The first floor main chamber was entered from the mural stair, lit by two flat-headed opes, and rested on wooden beams carried on corbels, two of which survive in both E and W walls. It was lit by flat-headed single-light windows in the E, S and W walls. The barrel-vault over the first floor, springing from the E and W walls, has largely collapsed. At the N end of the E wall a doorway leads into a small passage with a garderobe at the NE angle, lit by a flat-headed single-light in the W wall. Another doorway, of which only a fragment of the arch remains springing from the S wall, led into a small mural chamber in the W wall, above the entrance lobby and therefore possibly accessing a murder hole. A water tank, inserted in the 1940s at the N end of the first floor, is now hidden behind a concrete block wall. This area, above the ground-floor barrel vaulted chamber at the N end of the tower house, may have been a separate chamber accessed directly from the main chamber. The stairs turned E to access the second-floor level and may have risen further as a spiral but all evidence has been destroyed. Most of the second-floor level does not survive. According to the OS Letters the castle was 'in progress of being taken down by the present proprietor, and it will be razed to the ground before Mr. Du Noyer arrives to sketch it' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 34). Though the tower house was not completely demolished it would appear that the upper levels were removed in the 1840s. In the Civil Survey (1654-6), reference is made to 'the walles of a Castle and a little castle both burned, a slate house, and a bawne about them' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 348). Power (1908, 53) describes how 'the castle of Rochestown was stormed in 1647 by Inchiquin who put its fifty warders to the sword and burned "much corn and divers towns thereabouts'. Situated on the summit of a ridge, overlooking valley to E. The River Suir flows c. 500m to W, in undulating terrain. The tower house (ext. diam. c. 16.8m x 8.75m) is located in the midst of an old, but working, farm complex with farm building built-up against it's E face and shed against the W side. It is built of roughly coursed limestone rubble with well-cut and dressed quoins and has an external pebble-dash render with a limewash finish. The wall thickness range from 1.27m (N wall) to 1.63m (S wall). It survives up to three storeys high and has a base-batter (H 1.8m; Wth 0.3m). It was entered through a round-headed doorway at the S end of the E wall. The external face of the doorway has dressing consisting of a drafted margin and two parallel lines of continuous punch tooling. The doorway led into a small lobby area, with doorway to the ground-floor chamber directly opposite but now removed and a stairway to the N rising along the W wall, entered through a now blocked passage. The W end of the S wall in the entrance lobby has been broken through to form an entrance. The main ground-floor chamber was lit by a window in the S and E wall, both blocked. A barrel-vaulted chamber to N of the main chamber was probably entered from a doorway in the dividing wall which has a large breach, now completely filled-in. First floor was entered from the mural stair. The main chamber rests on a wooden floor and was barrel-vaulted over, though this has largely collapsed. It was lit by flat-headed single-light windows in the E, S and W walls. At the N end of the E wall a doorway gives access to a small mural chamber, probably a garderobe, lit by a single-light window at the N end, not accessible. Another doorway at the S end of the W wall of the main chamber gave access to a small mural chamber. Water tank, inserted in the 1940s, at the N end of the first floor. The stairs turns E up to second-floor level. Small chamber to the N. Most of the second-floor level does not survive. According to the OS Letters the castle was 'in progress of being taken down by the present proprietor, and it will be razed to the ground before Mr. Du Noyer arrives to sketch it' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 1, 34). Though the tower house was not completely demolished it would appear that the upper levels were removed in the 1840s. According to Colles (????, 575) a sheela-na-gig (TS082-055005-), now missing, had been incorporated in the tower house. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011