Rockets Castle (in ruins)

Situated on the bank of the NW-SE River Suir. The 'round castle' of Knockane, called Rockwell's Castle, was the property of Richard Strang in 1640 (Simington 1942, 106) but ownership was conveyed to Sir Algernon May during the Cromwellian era. A circular tower (ext. diam. 9.6m) with a slight batter survives complete to the rebuilt parapet (H 13m), which has no crenelations. The tower has three storeys, with a loft over the ground floor under a destroyed dome. At W a punch-dressed and chamfered pointed entrance with a yett is protected by a machicolation and a small cross loop operated from the ground-floor chamber. There is a guardroom S of the lobby and a passage leads N to the newel stairs, while a pointed doorway gives access to the ground floor (int. diam. 3.88m) which has two embrasures with narrow pointed lights. The stairs at N lead to the loft and upper floors. The circular loft has three embrasures, although the original windows do not survive, and there is a double garderobe off the stairs at the level of the loft. A pointed doorway leads to the first floor which is rectangular in plan with a segmental-arch fireplace at N and an embrasure in each of the other walls, that at S having a double-light, ogee-headed window. The second floor is D-shaped in plan, is entered through a pointed doorway and has three embrasures, two with double-light, ogee-headed windows. The stairs continue to the rebuilt parapet with a look-out and bellcote over the stairs housing at N. The bellcote was buit for the 18th or 19th century farmyard attached to the S that is now largely removed, but the three machicolations facing W, E and S are original. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 23 December 2008

Rockets Castle, also known as Rockwell's Castle, was held by Richard Strang in 1640 and later by Sir Algernon May. It is remembered as a 17th-century round tower house and is associated with the historical landscape of the River Suir region.