Indicated — Lynn

A castle (WM026-002----) is indicated in Gothic Script on the 1840 edition of the OS 6-inch map. Two castellated structures are depicted on the 1657 Down Survey map of Lynn parish in the area where Lynn church (WM026-003----) and Lynn House are now located (NLI MS 723-4). One of these castellated structures may have been the remains of Lynn Church and the other the remains of Lynn Castle in the vicinity of Lynn House. A medieval church (WM026-003-) and graveyard (WM026-003001-) are located 250m to the SE. In the OS Memoranda there is a reference to the 'remains of an old castle' which are indicated on the 1840 edition of the OS 6-inch map. In the OS memoranda the remains of this castle are described as 'these walls have been carefully examined in order to determine the position of its site but I fear we have not perfectly succeeded owing to the walls being partly old & partly new, in the wall enclosing the sapce a.b.c. there are portions of the old building remaining which are represented below in black but they can hardly belong to the old castle (as they are scarcely more than 18 or 20 inches thick [0.45m/0.5m]). I think the castle stood somewhere at the point f. as there is an arch at e. as the same construction as that at the gate on the road from Mullingar to Tyrellspass (on plan) marked g on trace - this was perhaps the entrance to the castle and a,b,c, d some sort of enclosure. The arch on the Mullingar road is said to be of the same date as the castle' (OS Memoranda pp. 90-1; SMR file). On the revised 1910 edition of the revised OS 6-inch map the annotation on the map has changed from 'Castle' to 'Monastery (in Ruins)'. The monument was visited in 1983 and described as 'Behind an early C19th house stands an archway pointed out as the remains of the monastery. The arch consists of two sections of rubble built wall approx. 2m long by 3.5-4m high. The inner faces of the arch show the reveals of a doorway. The arch proper being of brick & seemingly of C18th or C19th date. The lower part of the structure seems to be the remains of a doorway or entrance, possibly to a bawn (WM026-002003-) approx. 2m in width. There is nothing to indicate the remains of a monastery. Adjoining wall & outbuildings appear to be of late C18th or C19th date. No visible remains of any other features of medieval date' (SMR file 1983). The 1840 map shows a possible castle building standing in the W corner of a quadrangular enclosure which may be the remains of a bawn belonging to the castle. The building depicted in the W angle may be post-medieval in date with the original medieval castle being located inside the centre of the bawn. The castle may have been levelled and the medieval bawn may have been reused as the courtyard of 'Lynn House' in the 18th/19th century when the house was built onto the SE angle of the medieval bawn. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 05 October 2010