Desmond Hall, Newcastle West

National monuments No. 636 & 582. Desmond Hall described in the Urban Survey (Bradley et. al. 1989, 201-08) as following; "An account of the castle in the Desmond Roll of 1583-6 gives a good description of it:

'One great castle, built of square plan, a chief house of the said late Earl of Desmond ... having at each angle of the same a round tower, with various places and chambers in each tower. And there is at the south corner, on the western side of the said castle at the south part, a high square tower or peel, built for defence within the walls of the said castle. And also there were within the walls of the said castle many buildings - namely, a large hall, a large room and an excellent chamber; one garden, and in the same two fish ponds, all of which buildings are ruined and waste' (Westropp 1909, 56-7)

The castle, all sections of which are very ruined except the Desmond Hall, stands on a raised level area on the north side of the Arra river. It was built of roughly coursed rubble limestone and consisted of a large rectangular bawn with corner towers, a 'peel' tower, two two/three floored houses on the south, the great hall on the south east and the Desmond Hall on the north east. The enclosing bawn wall only survives in places along the south, where it is crennelated and has gun-loops, and along the east; elsewhere it is missing. At the extreme south-west there is a D-shaped turret, battered at the base and probably originally of two floors. It is now c. 4m high and contains one chamber with a narrow splayed slit to the east and a twin-light window with multi-cusped lights and rectangular hood-moulding with hollow spandrels. There is a similar single light window on the west. The chamber has been re-used as a kiln. To the east there is a circular tower which was originally three floored with basal batter but has been altered substantially internally. The only original features would appear to be one splay of an embrasure opening to the south-west at ground floor level and a loop to the north on the first floor. It would appear to have had a spiral stairs and a beehive shaped roof with wicker centering. The 'peel' tower is c. 11m high and had five floors with wall walk above. It has a pointed barrel vault over the 2nd floor while the remaining wooden floors are missing. The ground floor is largely filled with debris but access appears to have been from the north with internal stairs to the first floor which also connected with the building to the east. Access to the third floor above the barrel vault was possible only from the east and from there to the upper floors by a narrow spiral stairs (now blocked) in the north wall. The building to the east of the 'Peel' tower may have been contemporary with it as there is no sign of a break in the masonry on the north wall. The surviving remains are of one floor although Westropp suggested that it was three floored because be could see a roof line in the east wall of the tower but this is covered in ivy now. Two long barrel vaulted chambers orientated east-west remain on the ground floor; the walls do not survive above the vaults. The chambers have round vaults with wicker-work centering. The wall between the vaults is pierced by four low rounded arches - three of which are now blocked. The west end has been sub-divided into small chambers. Originally the north vault was lit by at least three narrow slits set in widely splaying embrasures while the south wall was probably similarly lit but only one is intact. Through the latter embrasure there is a vaulted chamber, divided by modern walls, between the south wall of this building and the outer bawn wall. It is lit by narrow slits in the bawn wall. The existence of a first floor is clear from the presence of a chimney breast and a pointed doorway opening into the tower together with a door in the south-east corner to the circular tower. To the east of the vaulted structure there was another two floored building which is completely gone except for a short stretch of the south wall c. 4m high. However, it is clear from features in the west wall of the above building that this building also had two barrel vaults orientated east-west at ground level which was lit by similar loops set in deep embrasures in the south wall. The first floor had a fireplace in the centre of the west wall and there was an opening on the north side of the chimney.

The Great Hall

This is located near the south side of the castle enclosure and is in poor condition. It consists of a single storied rectangular hall, oriented east-west with no evident internal divisions. The north and south walls survive to full height of c. 4.5m with wall-walk and parapet c. 1.4m high above this; the west wall is covered in ivy but seems to have a rather bluntly pointed gable c. 8m high while the east gable is missing. The masonry is of roughly coursed limestone rubble -no quoins are visible at present but there is a great deal of modern alteration. There is an external basal batter 1.65m high and 35cm wide on the south wall and on the south part of the east wall. The east wall for the most part stands only to a height of 1.25m rising to 3.5m at the north end; above this is a modern gable c. 7.5m high. In the centre of the wall is a large modern rectangular opening which partly cuts through an original ope with chamfered limestone jambs and sill; a similar ope now blocked with chamfered jambs and sill is located north of the modern opening. The south wall has four large windows; that at the west end is missing most of its external mouldings - replaced by a modern pointed arch - but where they survive they are of limestone, chamfered with a glazing groove. Part of a transom survives on the west jamb. The mouldings of the east jambs extend down to ground level, but those of the west jamb are replaced by the quoins of the batter 1.2m above ground (one side appears to be altered). The window is splayed with a round rear arch with double hollow chamfered mouldings which extend to ground level where they end in foliate sprays. The second and fourth windows from the west are rather broad twin-light double cusped pointed windows with an hexagonal shaped light above. The jambs are of limestone (although there is some sandstone in the second from the west) and chamfered with glazing grooves. The sills which are 2m above the ground are actually transoms suggesting that they may originally have extended below this or were possibly altered when the batter was added. Internally one is completely blocked up and the other much altered. The third window from the west is a twin-light cusped pointed window with chamfered limestone jambs and sill with glazing grooves. The heads of the arches, the mullion and sill have no groove and so seem to have been inserted later. It probably had a pointed rear arch now hidden by modern alterations. The wall-walk of the south wall was supported internally by dressed corbels some of which survive at the west end. The west wall has a splayed rectangular doorway, probably modern and now blocked, at the south end and a large externally blocked ope, probably a window, lacking its rear arch. Externally this is a single light cusped ogee-headed window with hollow spandrels and hollow chamfered limestone jambs. At the north end of the west wall at a higher level is a single light rectangular window with chamfered limestone jambs. The north wall has two large opes at the west end; that to the west was similar to the twin-light in the south wall although lacking its mullion and the tracery above. However, it clearly extended right down to ground level where there is a chamfered sill. It has a pointed rear arch with hollow chamfered mouldings, springing from small moulded capitals with cable ornament on engaged filleted shafts reaching to the ground. The ope to the east is now occupied by a modern doorway but may have been a similar window. Further east is a twin-light cusped pointed window