The Garrison

In low-lying terrain in a river valley, the land rising to the W and SW and an E ridge running roughly N-S. According to the Civil Survey, in 1640 there was a 'Castle & Bawne' in Ballyherbery with 'Phillip Hackett' listed as the proprietor (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 218). A small stream runs along the N and E sides of the external base of the bawn. The tower house was located in the SW angle of the rectangular bawn (TS061-047002-). The SW angle of the bawn has an inner and outer 'skin' (H 1.6m; Wth 0.35m) which corresponds with a strenghtening of the wall for the tower house incorporated into this angle. Tie-stones and vertical scarring on the inner face of the S and W walls indicate where the N and E walls of the tower house joined onto the bawn wall and provide a internal dimension for the tower house (9m x 6m). A large lump of fallen masonry for the tower house is located 6.2m outside the S wall of the bawn, near the SW angle, where it must have fallen from a height. The OS Letters describe 'an old bawn within which, near the southwest corner, stood a castle which is now destroyed' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol.1, 108). Within the bawn and incorporated in the later building built onto the E wall of the bawn are a number of architectural fragments including chamfered stones, the chamfered sill or lintel of a narrow loop (Wth 0.14m) and the partially broken transom of a four-light window. The complex is marked as 'The Garrison' on the 1st (1840) ed. OS 6-inch map. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011

Phillip Hackett held Ballyherberry in 1640, as recorded in the Civil Survey. The site is remembered as a minor defensive structure in a strategically located river valley during the turbulent period of 17th-century Irish land tenure.