Balleen Castle

On a terrace of a hill slope, looking across valleys with good views to the N, E and W. A small stream runs roughly E-W, outside the S side of the castle. The medieval church (KK009-038001-) of Balleen is located c. 100m to the S. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 332-3), this multi-period complex consisted of, 'a large ancient keep, to the south of which was a lofty square building, both being connected by a long hall or house. The keep dated probably from the 15th century, and stood in ruins, till one Twelfth Night, about 1875, when it collapsed. Only its basement storey now remains. The lofty square building to the south is still a substantial ruin, but roofless, and floorless, and tottering to its fall. Judging from its walls, which are not more the 2 ft. [0.6m] thick, and from the windows, which are large and furnished with mullions and transoms, it can have no pretensions to high antiquity. It was probably built in 1647, by Richard, third Viscount Mountgarret, who made some addition to Balleen castle, in this year, as may be inferred from the inscription at Ballyconra House (KK004-024001-), which notes that the reconstructed doorway was originally set up at 'Ballien' by R.L.V. Mountgarret in 1647. In 1596, "Ballyn" is mentioned among the principal residences of the Co. Kilkenny. Richard, third Viscount Mountgarret, appears to have made Balleen his residence, in preference to Ballyragget, where his father and grandfather had lived before him'. Mountgarret is also associated with Balleen in 1610 and again in 1624 (ibid.). There is a local tradition that the building works on the house were never completed (ibid.). On the Down Survey parish map (1655-6) the complex is depicted as 'a decayed stone house'. The Dublin Journal (1862, vol. 1) has an illustration of the N tower standing to almost full height. The internal view of the N wall shows the crease-line of the roof, with two doorways above the roofline giving access to a mural chamber on the parapet. The N end of the E and W wall also survive to almost full height but the S wall appears to have collapsed. It is described as having been, ‘erected in the course of the fourteenth century, and was the keep of the fortress as it then stood. It contained four floors, one of which was arched; a fine stone staircase in one of the angles that is now nearly destroyed, together with fireplaces and the other usual appendages to a building of the kind – all now in a most dilapidated condition’ (anon. 1862, vol. 1).

The 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map indicates a circular bawn (KK009-037003-) with two buildings in the SE quadrant which relate to a gatehouse, a building projecting from the bawn in the SSW and a building abutting the bawn internally in the NW quadrant. When visited in 1987 little survived of the gatehouse (entrance Wth 2m) which is described as having a very ornate double-gate. When re-visited in 2018 there was no visible trace of the gatehouse at ground level. The 1st ed. OS map also shows a fork in the public road to facilitate entrance to the castle via the gatehouse. The Dublin Journal’s illustration of Balleen Little castle shows the gatehouse as a single-storey building with pitched-roof and chimney at the apex of the roof. The gable is above the arched entrance which appears to have been blocked up, with a small window in the blocking. A small shed, shown as a single-storey building with a cat-slide roof and doorway in the E wall, is depicted W of the gatehouse.

The building depicted in the NW quadrant, the N tower, appears to be the N end of a building (L 23m; int. Wth c. 6.5m) running roughly N-S. The N wall (T c. 0.85m) and N end of the E wall (L c. 6m; T 0.9m) are thinner than the remainder of the E wall (upstanding L c. 6m; T c. 1.2m) and the upstanding W wall (T c. 1.3m) which does not survive at the N end. The N end (dims. c. 6m N-S; c. 9m E-W) is filled with collapsed masonry which is spills out over any remaining portion of the W wall. In the thicker section of W wall, S of the collapsed rubble, there are the remains of a wall oven in the thickness of the wall (Wth 1.5m; D 1.3m; H min. 0.7m) and c. 2m S of this there are the remains of a broken out window embrasure, though only the voussoirs of the inner and outer embrasure survive in the partially broken out inner face of the wall. Any other features on the W wall are obscured by collapsed masonry, though the splay of a blocked loop is evident externally towards the S end. The later bawn abuts this building at the W end of the N and S wall. In 1987 this curving later bawn is depicted on a sketch plan running between this long building and the projecting tower to the SW. This section of bawn has since collapsed and any remains are obscured by a mound of rubble.

The projecting SW tower which dates from the 17th century, was built onto the exterior of an earlier circular tower (wall T at first-floor level c. 1.95m), at least four-storeys high, only a short section (chord 3.2m) of this survives. This circular tower has a slight external base-batter (H 3m; Wth c. 0.15m). The internal face of this tower has a number of straight faces at different angles, with two walls projecting northward internally and the remains of a window embrasure and corbel at the E end. The latter features are probably original to the circular tower, while the narrow projecting internal wall appears to be later. According to a description of Balleen Little Castle in the Dublin Journal (1862, vol. 1), there was a datestone A. D. 1455 over one of the windows of the SE tower, however, if this date is correct, it dates the earlier phase of the castle. The circular tower may have been a mural tower on an earlier bawn associated with the NW tower. Of the six-storey SW rectangular tower (dims. c. 12m E-W; c. 8m N-S; wall T 0.9m), built of limestone rubble roughly coursed, only the W wall and the W end of the N and S wall survive. Cut block-and-start quoins survive on the SW angle. When visited in 1987 the E wall or its foundations were possibly still visible as it was recorded as being c. 12m long, however, when visited in 2018 nothing survived of the E wall and only 6.5m of the S wall survived. The ground floor, possibly a semi-basement level, is filled with collapsed rubble which is c. 1.4m above external ground level on the E side and 0.9m on the W side. There is no evidence of any windows on the W wall or W end of the S wall at this level, though there is a wide relieving arch at the S end of the W wall which may have been built to provide additional support to this portion of the wall which is weakened by having a vertical line of windows above it at each floor level up to and including fourth-floor level. These windows are all broken out, with only some sill stones surviving. At fifth-floor level the S splay of a window embrasure in the centre of the wall survives. At the N end of the W wall there is another large vertical breach from third-floor level up. A large chunk of masonry has collapsed from the top floor and is resting rather precariously in the top of the breach. There is another vertical line of windows up to and including fourth-floor level roughly mid-way in the S wall, only the W splay of the embrasures surviving, except at third-floor level where evidence of a mullion and transomed two-light, or larger, window of survives. At fifth-floor level, W of centre in the wall, the W jamb and lintel of a chamfered limestone fireplace survive. At the W end of the modified N wall a squinch has been inserted at first-floor level to square off the floor and to provide support for the features above, including a high rectangular recess at third-floor level. In the E of the surviving N wall there are the remains of straight-sided door embrasures at third and fifth-floor level, giving access between the rectangular tower and the circular tower to the N. The illustration in the Dublin Journal (ibid.) shows a large breach at ground level in the E wall, proba