Plary Monastery (in Ruins) — Ballymore

This building represents the remains of 'The round Castle' depicted on a sketch plan of the village of Ballymore dating from 1691 (Story 1693, 88). The Ordnance Survey map incorrectly identifies the present ruins of a castle as that of 'Plary Monastery' (WM024-034----) which was located in the field to the E of the river and 150m SE of the castle ruins. The precise site of the monastery to the E of the river has not been identified but it was located in the fields adjoining the river to the E. On the 1656 Down Survey map of Rathconrath barony a 'ruinous abby' (WM024-034----) is depicted standing inside a D-shaped enclosure or field boundary on the E side of the river (NLI MS 723-4). On this map of Rathconrath barony a large building or castle is shown standing in the field to the W of the river which corresponds with the upstanding remains of the castle. In 1606 King James I granted John Wakeman ‘the castle (WM034-182----) of Balleemore-Loughsewdie, and 4 carucates of land adjoining, of which the town of Balleemore-Loughsewdie is parcel, and all the islands, fishings, mills, and weirs thereon-a Wednesday market, and a fair on the 4th, 5th, and 6th Oct. at Balleemore-Loughsewdie’ (Cal. pat. Rolls Jas. I, 90). The ruins of a 15th/16th century circular tower (int. diam. 3.8m; wall T 2.3m) standing two storeys high but originally taller with wall footings of an adjoining building and possible bawn (WM024-182001-) can be seen standing on top of a low rise of ground with good views in all directions. Medieval settlement (WM024-179----) of Ballymore with medieval church (WM024-005---) and graveyard (WM024-005001-) 175m and 450m to N respectively. Site of ‘Plary Monastery’ (WM024-034----) in field c. 150-200m to E. In 1691 this building was described as 'an old Castle nigh a quarter of a Mile [400m] to the South-West of the Fort (WM024-004001-)' (Story 1693, 88). Present remains consist of a circular tower standing two storeys high the walls of which was constructed with coursed rubble limestone rising from a low protruding foundation plinth (H 0.35m; Wth 0.27m), the walls are straight sided with no evidence of a base batter visible. The circular-shaped ground floor of the tower was entered through a broken out doorway (Wth 1.7m) at SSE, with remains of a drawbar slot (dims. 0.12m x 0.12m) visible in W face of doorway opening. Directly inside the entrance to the W are the remains of a mural stairs (Wth 0.77m) which gives access to the upper floors of the tower. The ground floor of the tower is covered by a stone vaulted roof (H 1.8m) rising from E-W with two rectangular openings visible in the underside of the vaulted roof just inside the entrance to this chamber. The nib holes for the supporting timber centring of the vault can be seen just below the springing of the arch in the E face. The ground floor is lit by two slit opes which are set into two different embrasures with different arches and set at different heights. The slit ope in the N wall is intact externally and is faced with undressed rubble which is set into a pointed arched embrasure (int. Wth 0.86m; H 1.15m) set high (H 1.9m) above the floor of the chamber. The external face of the second slit ope located in the W face of the ground floor no longer survives. This slit ope is set into a flat headed embrasure (Wth 0.69m; H 1.15m) which is set at a different height (H 1m) above the surface of the ground floor compared to the embrasure in the N face. There is no evidence of any window in the E face of the ground floor chamber. The poorly preserved first floor is accessed off the mural stairs which continues to rise above the first floor to give access to a destroyed second floor or wall walk level. At first floor level there are the remains of a broken out window embrasure visible in the E face and a possible broken out embrasure in the S face. A wall cupboard or niche is visible in the W face of the first floor chamber. The mural stairs is lit by a series of flat headed slit opes now visible as broken out openings. Traces of wicker centring can be seen on the underside of the roof of the mural stairs indicating a late medieval date for this stairs and presumably for the circular tower. The masonry of the external E face of the tower has been torn away where the walls of an adjoining building was attached. The S (H 1m; L 6.65m; wall T 0.9m) and E (H 0.6m; L 4.5m) walls of this adjoining building can be seen to the E of the upstanding tower. There are no visible remains of the N wall of this adjoining building. This building appears to have been one storey high as there are the remains of broken out window visible at first floor level in the E wall of the circular tower. The grass covered wall footings of a possible bawn (dims. c. 22m E-W) can be seen to the S (L 22m; wall T 0.8m; H 0.3m) and E (L 4.65m) of the tower and adjoining building. A gap (Wth 1.9m) in the S wall of this possible bawn may represent the entrance or gateway into the bawn of the castle. There is no evidence for the wall footings of the bawn on the N or W side of the circular tower. The Urban Survey of Westmeath (Bradley et. al. 1985, 66-7) recorded the following: 'The function of this building has not been fully established. Identified on the O.S. map as Plary Monastery (WM024-034----) (i.e. the Augustinian priory of St. Mary) the remains have none of the features of a religious house. The earliest clear reference to the structure is in 1690, during the siege of Ballymore, when it is described simply as a 'round stone castle' (Murtagh 1974-5, 244). The identification with Plary Monastery is based on a local tradition recorded by O'Donovan in 1837 but his letter suggests that he was not entirely convinced: 'no remains of any buildings are visible except one small round castle, which, though it presents all the appearances of a strong military tower, it insisted upon by tradition to be part of the monastery of Plary' (Walsh 1957, 16). If this local tradition was correct it is all the more surprising that Woods, a resident of Ballymore, should have described the building as 'Ballymore Castle' in his Annals of Westmeath, published in 1907 (Woods 1907, 197). Architecturally the structure is difficult to date. It was badly slighted in the 1690 siege and lacks diagnostic architectural features. The circular plan and the wall thickness are consistent with a late twelfth or early thirteenth century donjon but the small arrow loops on the ground floor are more typical of the fifteenth century. There is no evidence that these loops are insertions and this suggests that the the structure is late medieval and is best interpreted as a round tower house. For whom it was built, an Irish lord or a religious house, can only be determined by excavation. The remains consist of a ruined drum tower and footings. The tower has a base batter and was probably storeyed originally but only two floors now survive. It is built of roughly coursed masonry. The walls are 2.15m thick on average and the internal diameter is 3.9m. The tower is entered at ground floor level from the south through a large hole lacking any splay or jambs. It opens into a round chamber with a pointed barrell vault. Two arrow loops open to the north and north-west: these have flat lintelled rear arches and are deeply splayed internally. The angle of the roof vault appears to have necessitated the thickening of the north wall internally and the insertion of a round arch over the north arrow loop. Close to the door there are two holes in the roof. The first floor is reached by a mural stairs on the west of the entrance. The stair is barrel vaulted and lit by narrow rectangular windows with internal splay. The floor is filled with the debris from the collapsed upper parts of the tower. The internal wall faces are lacking but it probably had a large window in both the south and east walls. The stair appears to have continued