Castlelost Moat — Castlelost

Situated on top of a natural glacial hillock with good views in all directions. Castle ruins (WM033-043----) located 20m to the E with medieval church (WM033-031----) and graveyard (WM033-031001-) located 400m to the N. This motte and bailey castle consists of a poorly preserved high, steep-sided mound of earth and stone the S side of which has been cut into by the construction of the Rochfortbridge road running NW-SE. A photograph of the monument taken in 1910, shows the motte as a high steep-sided mound (H c. 5m; top diam. 20m x 12m) with rounded summit, giving the mound a typical pudding bowl profile (Orpen 1910, 226). This classic shape and profile of the motte is no longer apparent due to soil erosion and vegetation cover. Traces of a stone structure can be seen on the poorly preserved summit (dims. NW-SE 8m; NE-SW 3.5m) of the motte that appear to be the remains of an Ordnance Survey Trigonometrical Station as depicted on all editions of the OS 6-inch maps. The sides of the motte are defaced in several places and show signs of scarring where the soil has slipped down exposing the core of the mound. The stone castle (WM033-043----) to the E of the motte appears to be standing on the scarp of a raised area which may be the remains of a bailey or courtyard associated with the motte castle. A large hole in the NE quadrant of the bailey located to the N of the castle may be the remains of a levelled building described in 1826 as a mansion-house (Brewer 1826, 252) and is possibly a gatehouse that was built onto the N side of the stone castle and controlled the entrance into the interior of the bailey on this side of the earthwork. This possible bailey area (dims. c. 55m N-S x 41m E-W) was then reused as a courtyard for the stone castle. This Anglo-Norman earth & timber castle may have been constructed by the Anglo-Norman knight, Hugh Tyrel [Tyrrell] between 1186-1223 (Orpen 1906, 227-8). In 1223, King Henry III notified the Archbishop of Dublin, who was then Justiciar of Ireland that he had, ‘taken the homage of Hugh Tyrel for the lands which he holds in capite in that country. Mandate to the justiciary that, having accepted from Hugh security for the relief due out of those lands, he give him seisin thereof’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 168). In 1232 Hugh Tyrel was granted a ‘yearly fair at his manor of Newetown in Fertelagh [Fertullagh]’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 289). The manor of Newtown is located in the parish of Newtown which is the adjoining parish to Castlelost and was probably centred around the present village of Tyrrellspass located 5km to the SSW (Orpen 1910, 227). Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 22 July 2013