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Located on a shelf overlooking the N-S River Blackwater, which is c. 180m to the E. Land at Norrisland was sold by Sir Walter Raleigh to Sir Richard Boyle in 1591 (O'Connell-Redmond 1918, 103), and the land was owned by William Gratix or 'Greatacres' in 1641 (Simington 1942, 12), but there is no mention of a house.
The house is a rectangular structure (ext. dims. c. 10m x c. 8m) of three storeys with projecting rectangular corner towers at the NE and SW angles, and there is a projecting half tower towards the E end of the S wall, but only the SW tower (int. dims. 3.55m x 3.44m) survives fully. The N wall of the house is entirely missing and the other walls are reduced to the ground floor (H c. 3m). A chimney flue is broken out in the W gable and the half tower on the S wall has a small window and a single light at ground level. The SW tower has three surviving lights and perhaps two destroyed lights at ground level. Its first floor has a blocked light, two destroyed windows, and a fireplace in the W wall, while the second storey has two destroyed windows and a fireplace in the W wall with a tall chimney stack rising over it.
O'Connell-Redmond, G. (1918) The castles of north-east Cork and near its borders. JCHAS 24, 1-6, 62-6, 93-103, 145-51.
Simington, R. C. (ed.) (1942) The Civil Survey AD 1654-1656, vi, the County of Waterford. Irish Manuscripts Commission. Dublin.
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 21 July 2011
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