Clohamon Castle (in ruins) — Castlequarter

Situated on rock outcrop on the E bank of the NW-SE River Slaney, with the stream c. 180m to the NW, and Ryland castle (WX009-004----) is on the other side of the river c. 400m distant. The manor of Clohamon, although probably derelict, was held by the King from the 1540s (Goff 1987, 126). The Lands of Clohamon were leased by Richard Sinnott of Ballybrennan (WX048-001001-) from 1572 and Clohamon was burnt in 1579 by the Kavanaghs (ibid. 129-30). The lands were leased by Thomas Masterson from 1581. References to Clohamon Castle date from early 17th century, and it was described as a bawn with two towers and a gate in 1610. Masterson sold the property to Sir George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, in 1625 who re-built it (Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber 1987, 199–200). Lord Blatimore established the colony of Maryland as a Catholic haven in north America in 1634. Clohamon was pillaged in 1643 although described as a 'fair Castle' in the Civil Survey (Simington 1953, 260). The manor was leased in 1637 by Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, to William Swanston, and in the late 1650s he leased it to a London consortium in the hope of developing an iron industry (Lyttleton 2013a). The foundations of one wall (L 6.4m) survive on the E side of a quarry. Archaeological testing (09E0393) revealed that this is the battered facing of the rock-outcrop (H 1.85m) with a rock-cut fosse (Wth 3.7m; D 0.4m) at its base. The fosse had late medieval ceramics and slates in the fill. A curved section of the wall (T 0.8m) of a flanking tower, probably from a bawn, was also uncovered (Lyttleton 2009; 2012). A further season in 2010 led to the re-interpretation of this wall as part of the castle itself, although no further remains of it were found on the rock outcrop. The castle fosse was found extending E as a drain (Wth 2.2m; D 0.9m) which was overlaid by an 18th century NNW-SSE road. (Lyttleton 2009) The shadow of a sill-beam incorporated in a brick-built building that was probably timber-framed (WX009-016----) with an attached kiln was also uncovered in 2011, c. 200m NNE of the castle. The walls survived to two courses of bricks and were bonded with a lime-mortar, as was the shale-flagged floor (dims 4m x c. 5m). The foundations and fill of the attached brick-built kiln produced mid to late-17th century ceramics and tobacco pipes, suggesting that it was abandoned by 1700 AD. This building was probably a malt-house where moist barley was spread on the floor and allowed to sprout before being dried in the kiln as part of the beer-making process. (Lyttleton 2013; 2013a) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 5 April, 2012 Amended: 30 December, 2013