Castle in ruins — Lady's Island

According to Lewis (1837, 347) and John O’Donovan writing c. 1840 (O’Flanagan 1933, 229) Lady’s Island was the fief of Milo de Lamporte in 1195, and when his son, Rudolph, departed for the Crusades, Rudolph left the manor to the Church if he did not return, which he didn’t, but there is no corroboration for this. Brooks (1943, 117-9) identifies Ballifistlan in the foundation charter of Ferns Abbey c. 1158 (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 180) with Ballycushlane and Lady’s Island parish. In 1247 Walter Purcell held Ballyfistlan by a quarter of a knight’s fee from the Valence estate and in 1324 it was held by John Maunsel, while the heir of William Sandull had it c. 1425 (Brooks 1943, 117-8). When he died in 1617 William Browne of Mulrankin (WX047-031----) was leasing the manor of Ballyfistelbane consisting of three carucates (townlands), a mill and a castle. William’s son and heir, Patrick, also held Ballyfistelbane, and land in Noartowne (Eardownes), Ballycuslan and Lady’s Island is recorded (ibid). According to the Book of Survey and Distribution (1660s) William Browne, presumably Patrick’s son, owned the whole of Lady’s Island parish c. 1640 (Simington 1953, 305). The castle is situated at the N end of what was once a triangular island (max. dims c. 700m N-S; c. 220m E-W at S) with the apex at N in Lady’s Island Lough (dims c. 3.5km NNE-SSW; c. 500m-1.5km E-W), a lake that was called Lough Togher in the 17th century (Hore 1862, 87). Salt water seeps through the bar separating the lake from the sea and the bar is sometimes breached, so the lough is a semi-salt water lagoon. The castle controls access to the church (WX053-013001-) along the causeway (WX053-016----) from the lake-shore c. 100m to the N. This is a rectangular tower house (ext. dims 9.15m NW-SE; 8.68m NE-SW) of five floors with a base-batter and good quoins, and it survives to the wall-walk. A raised and enclosed platform with an altar has been built against the NE wall, obscuring some features. The original entrance with a pointed arch of uncut stone that is now blocked is towards the E end of the SW wall, and is protected inside by a murder-hole. A secondary entrance at the W end of the SW wall is also blocked and is probably broken out from an antechamber that has a light in the NW wall covering the area just N of the gatehouse. There are three bar-holes through the wall just N of this light to secure a gate, but the plan was changed and the gatehouse is attached further S so this feature is now redundant. The ground-floor chamber (int. dims 7.1m NW-SE; 3.5m NE-SW) has embrasures with lights in the NW (double-splayed), NE (slit) and SE (blocked) walls and corbels in the SE and NW walls to support the ceiling. A garderobe chute is broken out in the E angle. A mural stairs rises in the SW wall to a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.7m; H 1.68) at the centre of the SW wall to the first floor under the vault, which has slit windows on the SE and NW walls and traces of wicker-centring in the vault. An antechamber (int. dims 1.87m NE-SW; 1.25m NW-SE) at the S angle has a light on the SE wall and controls the murder-hole over the entrance lobby. The stairs continue in the SW wall to the second floor (int. dims 6.65m NW-SE; 4.67m NE-SW) over the vault, but the head of the stairs is destroyed. This floor has a fireplace (Wth 1.48m; D 0.63m), missing its lintel, and a destroyed window embrasure in the NE wall. There is a lintelled garderobe chamber (int. dims 2.45m NE-SW; 0.85m NW-SE; H 1.95m) with a light in the SE wall at the E angle, and an antechamber (int. dims 2.3m NE-SW; 0.96m NW-SE; H 1.95m) with a light in the SW wall at the S angle. The SW wall has no certain original features but there are two inserted or widened windows. At the W end of the SW wall a doorway (Wth 0.78m; H 2.45m) leads to the first floor of the gatehouse while at the centre of the NW wall is a large arched embrasure (Wth 3.3m; H 2.45m; D 0.77m) with a slit window. The ceiling of the second floor is supported on corbels (H 2.4m) in the NE and SW walls. A newel stairs at the W angle leads to the third floor entered by a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.65; H 1.92m) from the stairs. This floor has an embrasure on each wall, with an inserted window on the N wall, a damaged light in the E wall, a light in the S wall and a damaged embrasure on the W wall. There is a garderobe chamber at the E angle and from the top of the stairs a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.65m; H 1.92m) leads to the destroyed battlements of the gatehouse. The ceiling of this floor is supported on corbels in the NE and SW walls. From the head of the newel stairs a mural stairs rises in the NW wall to a central lintelled doorway (Wth 0.58m; H 1.7m) that accesses the fourth floor. This floor has simple slit windows on the NE, SE and SW walls, and there are corbels for the ceiling in the NE and SW walls. The stairs continue in the NW wall, beginning to spiral at the N angle, where it emerges on the destroyed wall-walk. The gatehouse (ext. dims. 5.9m NW-SE; 3.2m NE-SW) is offset to the S and W of the W angle of the tower house. The entrance passage (Wth 2.45m), with a segmental arch at SW and a pointed arch at NE is protected by a murder-hole inside the NE arch. The gate is secured by a single draw-bar socket, with the remains of a timber beam in place. The murder-hole is controlled from the first floor, which is a lintelled chamber (int. dims 4.1m NW-SE; 1.5m NE-SW; H 2.65m), accessed from the second floor of the tower house. The parapet is destroyed, but it was accessed from a doorway at the third floor of the tower house. A wall runs NW from the gatehouse (surviving L c. 6m) and SE from the tower house (surviving L c. 13m; max. H 3.3m), effectively securing the whole island. About 50m NE of the tower house, at the apex of the island is a single tower (WX053-015----) that has tilted severely to the N and almost collapsed. This feature (ext. dims 5.1m NW-SE; 3.6m NE-SW) has a base-batter on the NE and NW walls, and the remains of the doorway is c. 2m above ground level on the SE side with the tie-stones of a wall beneath it. The ground floor has a garderobe chute on the NW wall that emerges on the outer face of the wall 2m below, and the only other ground floor feature is a cross-loop on the NE wall commanding the causeway (WX053-016----) that connected the island with the mainland, c. 90m distant. This was known as the togher (road), and provided the name Lough Togher to the lake. The first floor of the tower was supported on corbels in the NE wall, and presumably on the destroyed SW wall. It has two slit windows on the NE wall with a NW-SE barrel-vault rising over them. A photograph from c. 1900 in the Lawrence Collection in NLI (LROY 04780) shows a wall, perhaps not original, running NW from the tower, effectively creating a bawn between the tower and the tower house (WX053-014001-). Archaeological monitoring (22E0011) by C. Moriarty of works in a small area (dims c. 13m x c. 8m) immediately to the SE and within the bawn produced no related material (excavations.ie 2022:002). 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 revision: 25 March 2014 Amended: 13 December 2022