Black Castle, Wicklow

Situated on a rocky promontory SE of the present harbour, separated from the land at the W by a deep rock-cut fosse, with a steep drop to the sea on the other sides. The earliest reference to the castle is in 1174 in a grant from Henry II to Earl Richard (Clarke 1944, 1) and it later formed part of the medieval borough of Wicklow (WI025-012----). It may occupy the site of an earlier promontory fort. A 'rampart' indicated on the OS 6-inch maps further inland is not now visible at ground level. The keep is triangular in shape and was constructed of uncoursed rubble. A wall (max. present H 1.2m) survives along the W side (E of the fosse) with a central gap (Wth 1.5m) reached by a small flight of possibly modern rock-cut steps. At the junction of the W and SE walls are the remnants of a roughly quadrangular corner tower (H c. 4m) which extends beyond the line of the W and SE walls. Two loops survive, a small one in the S face and a larger one at SW. The SE wall of the castle (of which only the lower courses remain) is built on a plinth and survives to a height of 3.5m at the E (seaward) end. It contains a garderobe chute below which a small gully has been cut into the rock towards the sea. The wall (max. ext. H 2.8m) is curved and there is a doorway (Wth 1.2m) just above the junction with the SE wall. The interior of the site is very uneven, but there are traces of a rectangular structure (probably modern) in the SW corner, cut into the rock. (Clarke 1944, 1-22; Grogan and Hillery 1993, 36; Simpson 1994, 212-14)