Castle (in ruins) — Carrick (corkaree By.)

Standing on rock outcrop, atop high ground with commanding views of the surrounding countryside from SW-W-N-NE, with limited views to E. Rectangular shaped tower house standing two storeys high with long axis aligned NW-SE standing on NW side of levelled bawn (WM011-012001-) with levelled 18th century house built onto NE face of castle. Present remains consist of a two–storey high rectangular tower house (int. dims. 5.86m NW-SE x 4.65m NE-SW; wall T 1.4m) constructed with coursed rubble and rounded undressed quoins with no base-batter. Low scarp of levelled bawn wall (WM011-012001-) visible on all sides of the castle. Main entrance to castle in NE wall close to E angle was intact in 1864 and is now visible as a broken out gap with no dressed-stone of the doorway surviving. The doorway gave access to a partially destroyed lobby area protected by overhead murder-hole accessed from loft over the ground floor. The ground floor was accessed through a broken out doorway accessed off the lobby area. The bar slot of this doorway is still visible in the NE face of the broken out doorway. A narrow steep mural stairs (Wth 0.88m) with cross-slab ceiling in the SE wall gave access to the barrel-vaulted loft and first floor. The ground floor was lit by a slit ope in the centre of the SW wall and NW wall. This latter opening was modified in the 18th century when the window was enlarged and redbrick pointed arch inserted into the window surround. A hammer dressed chamfered sill-stone of the medieval single light window can be seen lying on the floor of the castle beneath the broken out window embrasure in the SW wall. A flat-arched wall recess (Wth 1.9m x D 1.2m) in the SE wall contains two flat-headed wall cupboards. The wall cupboard in the S angle measures 0.75m H x 0.65m wide x 0.65m deep. The second wall cupboard in the E face of the recess measures 0.56m H x 0.52m wide x 0.52m deep. The holes for the wooden beams over the ground floor are visible in the NE and SW walls. Above the ground there is a loft covered with a barrel-vaulted roof with single light now broken out in centre of NW wall. This low loft space was accessed off the mural stairs in the centre of the NE wall. The murder-hole over the lobby entrance was accessed through a doorway from the loft. In 1864 the loft was described by Du Noyer as being ‘divided by wooden floor’. The first floor or hall above the stone vaulted loft was accessed off the mural stairs through a broken out doorway in S angle. This doorway was lit by a window in the SW wall which was rebuilt as a tall pointed brick-lined window in the 18th century. The poorly preserved first floor has a hole in the centre of the vaulted floor and is missing the W half of the SW wall. A large pointed window of 18th century date and lined with red-brick is visible in the centre of the SW and NW wall. The NW gable is surmounted with cut-stone chimneystack of 18th century date. A fireplace covered in ivy is visible in the N angle of the NE wall. Du Noyer illustrated the presence of rectangular niche or wall cupboard immediately E of the fireplace opening which is now covered in ivy. A broken out redbrick window of 18th century date was located at the E angle of the NE wall and a tall pointed window was located in the centre of the SW wall as shown on Du Noyer’s plan. Carrick Castle is not depicted on the lands of Carrick in the 1654-7 Down Survey map of Lacken parish (NLI, MS 723-4) which could suggest that the castle was constructed in the second half of the 17th century. In 1641 the lands of Carrick amounting to 379 acres belonged to the Irish papist Mathew Ledwitch. The architectural evidence would suggest a 15thcentury date for the construction of the castle although the lack of a base batter is unusual and may suggest a later date for its construction. However the presence of a barrel vault, mural stairs with cross-slab ceiling, lobby entrance with murder hole and hammer dressed window sill would all point towards a date in the 15th century rather than the second half of the 17th century. The castle was modified in the 18th century with the addition of a single storey thatched house built onto the NE face of the castle. It was at this time that a fireplace was inserted into the N angle of the first floor and the windows were converted into redbrick pointed gothic style windows. Carrick Castle was surveyed and drawn by George Victor Du Noyer on the 8th of July 1864 (RIA, Du Noyer Sketches VI (60-1). In his catalogue of sketches Du Noyer described Carrick Castle as a ‘comparatively modern, probably erected at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and appears to be the last of the castellated dwelling-houses’ (Du Noyer 1867, 157). His drawing of the castle shows a stretch of the bawn wall now levelled running off the SW wall close to W angle of castle along with a single storey thatched house now levelled built onto the NE face of the castle. The drawing shows the broken out pointed window in the centre of the NW wall with a large pointed window at first floor level with rectangular chimneystack rising from apex of NW gable. The pointed windows with their red brick lining are 18th century modifications of earlier single light windows. The thatched house on the NE wall of the castle appears to have been built in front of the doorway of the castle although this is not certain. The NW wall of the thatched house has two slit opes visible and may have reused the bawn wall of the castle as the lateral wall for the thatched house. Two tall pointed windows at first floor level in SW wall are 18th century enlargements of earlier smaller windows. The window at the S angle provides light where the stairs gave access to the first floor. The tower house with bawn was originally built as a two storey high structure with stone vaulted loft over the ground floor. The castle was extended to the NE by the addition of a single storey thatched house in the 18th century and the smaller medieval windows were converted into larger brick lined pointed gothic style windows. The chimney stack and fireplace at first floor level appears to date from the 18th century. Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 19 July 2017