Slade Castle — Slade

Situated on the S side of the harbour at Slade, on the E side of the low-lying and narrow part (L c. 4.5km NE-SW; Wth c. 600m-1.5km NW-SE) of the Hook peninsula. References to the Laffans of Slade date from 1541 but this Irish family was in the county from at least 1376 when Thomas Laffan of Ross, an Irishman, was granted the benefit of English law, in confirmation of an earlier mandate to William Naffan in 1279 (Hore 1900-11, vol. 4, 419-20). At the Suppression of the Knights Hospitallers’ manor of Kilcloggan (WX049-004----) in 1541 Nicholas Laffan held 120 acres in Hooke parish from them (White 1943, 101). Nicholas died in 1567, and in 1581 Joan Laffan, probably Nicholas’ widow, is renting 180 acres in the Hall from Alexander Redmond, who may have been her brother. In 1631 Nicholas Laffan held 180 acres in Slade, 10 in Portersgate and 10 in Galgestown, which were held by Henry Laffan in 1638 when he died. Henry’s son, Thomas, an infant, inherited (Hore 1900-11, vol. 4, 421-2) but Robert Redmond, possibly Thomas’ uncle and guardian, is listed as the proprietor of the land and ‘an old castle’ at Slade in 1640. Redmond was dispossessed during the Commonwealth, while the only Laffan mentioned in the Civil Survey (1654-6) is Michael, who had 27 acres in Galgeystown in 1640 (Simington 1953, 171-2). However, Thomas Laffan of Slada was awarded 60 acres in Connaught under the transplantation in 1657 (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 506). In 1666 157 acres at Slade were confirmed to Nicholas Loftus (ibid. vol. 4, 425). In 1684 Henry Loftus built the old quay (WX054-017----) at Slade, and the following year he rented the castle and land of Slade to William Mansel, who developed the saltworks (WX054-012----). The two castles, with additional structures, continued to be occupied in several units into the 20th century (Colfer 2004, figs 6, 9). The tower house (WX054-008001-) and fortified house were built separately with only the adjacent corners touching. They were built in the 15th century, probably by the Laffans if they were in Slade then, and the house was probably modelled on the Hall (WX054-002----) of the Redmonds’, their landlord. The house is a two-storey structure with a mezzanine at the E end and a barrel vault over the ground floor. It survives complete with stepped crenellations and is situated just NE of the tower house. A small structure was added in the angle between the two to allow communication between the first floor of the fortified house and the second floor of the tower house. A small structure was added to the E end of the fortified house to facilitate an outside stairs providing direct access to the first floor. These two structures were probably associated with the later saltworks (WX054-012----). The house is an oblong structure (ext. dims 13m E-W; 7m N-S) entered through a round-headed doorway of undressed stone towards the W end of the S wall. The lobby, protected by an inner murder-hole, leads to the vaulted ground floor, which is divided into three chambers by secondary walls. There is a large fireplace at the W end, the flue of which protrudes on the outer face of the W wall. There is also an oubliette or hidden chamber in the vault of the E chamber at S. From the lobby a stairs rises eastwards in the S wall, giving access to the central of three original chambers at the first floor. This central chamber has a large fireplace on its E wall and two lights on the N wall, one ogee-headed. The room to the W has four windows with seats, two with double-light ogee-headed windows and some with hinge-stones for shutters surviving. In the E chamber a garderobe at the NE angle was destroyed when a secondary doorway to the outside stairs was inserted and this chamber has a two-light blocked window in the E wall. The mural stairs continue eastwards in the S wall to the mezzanine over the E chamber of the first floor, with a garderobe chamber at the NE angle. Access to the wall-walk and the stepped crenellations must have been from this room, but is not evident. After the house was built, and probably associated with the saltworks in the 18th century, an attempt was made to link it to tower house (WX054-008001-) by constructing a two storey structure in the NW-facing angle between them. There is no external access to this at the corbelled ground level, but a doorway from the lobby of the house is broken through to it. At the first floor the W chamber of house has a doorway broken through to the corbelled first floor of the additional structure, which is provided with a rudimentary link to the second floor of the tower house through the broken out embrasure in the N wall of the tower house. The house, together with the tower house is a National monument. (Leask 1951; Harbison. 1975, 249) This is a National Monument in state guardianship: No. 429. See the attached aerial view taken from NW. The abpve 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: 31 March, 2014