Castle — Castletown (forth By.)

References to the Codd family in Wexford date from early in the 13th century, although Osbert Codd is thought to have landed with FitzStephen at Bannow in 1169 (Cavanagh 1911, 247). However, there is no corroboration of this (Hore 1921, 81). Carne was held by Geoffrey de Karrn in 1247 from the Valence estate and Osbert and Geoffrey Coud held Cairne in 1324. About 1425 Rochfort held Carnecorna, all of which are the manor of Carne (Brooks 1950, 127- 9). The original fief of the Codd family is Ballywich (Ballyhire WX048-034----) and Rathaspick (WX042-008----), so Carne, or Maliordocke as it is sometimes called (Cavanagh 1911, 253), may be a late acquisition, perhaps by marriage (Brooks 1950, 128). John Codd of Carne is recorded 1338-41 (Cavanagh 1911, 249). While Ballywich seems to have been lost to the Lamports, the other two are mentioned together frequently in the 14th century (ibid. 250). The pedigree of the Codd family of Carne is well established from the late 15th century, and they retained their land through nine generations until 1712 when Nicholas Codd sold the estate, amounting to 950 statute acres, to Col. Thomas Palliser (ibid. 255). Martin Codd, who succeeded his father, Nicholas, in 1609 was the first to adopt the Protestant religion (ibid. 252). His son, Nicholas, had to flee to Wales in 1641 when the estate was virtually confiscated by the Confederate Catholics (Hore 1920, 103-05), but it was restored under the Commonwealth. According to the Book of Survey and Distribution (1660s) Nicholas Codd, who is described as an English Protestant, had 381 acres in Carne and 80 in Rathaspick in 1640 (Simington 1953, 299, 305-06). Colonel Palliser was descended from a Yorkshire family and was a nephew of William Palliser, Archbishop of Cashel 1693-1727. Thomas served in the Williamite army in Ireland into the early years of the 18th century. He was rewarded by the Duke of Ormonde with land at Great Island, Co. Wexford, where he built a country house called Portobello at Campile. He purchased the Castletown land in 1712, and he lived until 1756 (Cavenagh 1912, 44). Castletown passed to his grandson, Philip, who died in 1784, and then to Thomas’ nephew, Admiral Hugh Palliser, who died in 1796 after an adverturous life at sea. Castletown House is no longer extant, but from a photograph (ibid. Fig. 2) it was a five-bay, two storey and attic structure that incorporated the castle in its W wing, and was similar in design to Castlepaliser House that was described as ‘newly finished’ in 1780 (Cavenagh 1911, 248), so it may have been built by Philip. Only the ground floor and the first floor of the tower house survive (ext. dims 9.45m E-W; 8.65m N-S) with good quoins, and a base batter on all sides except the N. The original entrance is a lintelled doorway of dressed granite (Wth 0.9m; H 2.05m), with an internal hanging eye towards the S end of the E wall, although there is a considerable build-up of ground (H c. 1m) around the outside of the castle. The doorway is protected by a murder-hole in the lobby (L 2.22m N-S) that was operated from the second floor, over the vault. From the lobby a lintelled doorway (Wth 1.12m; H 1.87m) with a projecting drawbar stone leads to the ground floor (int. dims 6.25m E-W; 4.6m N-S) which has two embrasures on the S, W and N walls, and one, now destroyed and blocked, on the E wall. The W embrasures in the N and S walls were adapted as doorways to the Palliser house. The E embrasure on the S wall has a double-spayed loop, but the others are simple lights. From the entrance lobby a mural stairs rises southwards in the E wall and turns onto the S wall where a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.7m; H 1.84m), now blocked, leads through a passage (L 1.5m) to the E end of the first floor under the E-W barrel-vault. A slit window (Wth 0.2m; H 0.8m) with chamfered edges in the W wall is the only surviving original feature as the vault has been plastered and a recess on the E wall is repaired in brick. The mural stairs continue to the destroyed second floor over the vault. The church (WX053-028----) is c. 165m to the SE. See the attached section of the Down Survey parish map (N at right) reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (Ms 725) 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: 21 March, 2014