Thomastown Castle

This tower house has been modernised into a large house known as Knockabbey, dating to the Georgian period with later additions abutting at the W and S sides (Bence-Jones 1978, 178); it now has little of its original medieval features visible. It is three storeys high and has angle-towers which rise above the battlement level. The tops of the towers and the parapet walls have modern crenellations. The windows are later insertions, as is the large doorway in the centre of the N wall. It has projecting towers at the SE and NW angles. That at the SE projects eastwards by c. 2m and contained the original stairwell. The original entrance, now blocked, was in the E end of the S wall and led into an E-W barrel vault and to the stairwell which was to the E of the doorway. The interior is plastered so that no centring can be seen. The only original window that can be seen is a simple slit ope at ground level in the N wall. There is now no evidence of the garderobe which should have been located in the NW tower. (Dolan 1923, 179-80) The above description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007

Thomastown Castle, originally a tower house, was likely built by the Fitzgerald family, the dominant Anglo-Norman lords in the region, during the late medieval period. It is remembered as part of the historical landscape of Kildare and reflects the transition from medieval to Georgian architecture as it was later expanded and renamed Knockabbey.