Grange Castle

On a N-facing slope at the base of the Slieveardagh Hills which rise to the SE-S-SW. Within a farmyard with a farm shed running up against the SW wall of the tower house and a small outbuilding against the S end of the SE wall. There is a cattle crush along the NW wall, the wall of the tower house has been faced with concrete to a height of 1.5m along this face. There is an extensive view to the NW-N, with Kilcooly abbey visible 2.2km to the NW from the upper floors. When Kilcooly abbey was surrendered during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, it is recorded as having three granges (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970 (1988 reprint), 138), the townland name would suggest that this was one of the granges, the tower house serving as the accommodation for this outfarm. According to the Civil Survey (1654-56) in 1640 the proprietor of 'Grangkilcowly' was 'Hierom Alexander of Dublyn Esqr Protestant' and 'Upon these 3 q[uar]ters stands a castle wanting repaire' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 133). This tower house (ext. dims. excluding base-batter 7.8m NE-SW; 8.95m NW-SW; int. dims. 5.69m NW-SE; NW wall T 1.95m) is composed of roughly coursed limestone rubble with a tall, slender base-batter (H 5m; Wth 0.3m) and block and start quoins. The main body of the tower house is three-storeys high, with a barrel vault over the first floor. Remains of the gabled roof are visible on the SE face of a fourth-floor mural chamber running along the NW wall. Though the parapet level does not survive, there are indications of a wall-walk accessed from a doorway in the W angle and crow-steps leading to a parapet above the fourth-floor chamber. The tower house was entered through a doorway at the N end of the NE wall. The opening is broken out and has been blocked up with a mass concrete wall, within which there is a flat-headed doorway and a window. The relieving round-headed arch of the original doorway is visible above the concrete infill. There is a recess in the base-batter in the wall above the doorway to facilitate projectiles from the machicolation which is at parapet level above the doorway. The entrance was protected by a murder-hole in the entrance lobby which was accessed from a wall-cupboard at the N end of the NE wall at first-floor level. The ground floor was lit by two loops, one in the SE and one in the NW wall, both have an internal and external splay, the latter to facilitate the base-batter. There is a wall-cupboard at the E end of the NE wall. There was a wooden ceiling over the ground floor to carry the floor above. The original support for this floor, probably on offsets in the NE and SW walls, appear to have been lowered in the 19th/20th century to provide more height at the first-floor level. From the main entrance a short stair to the NW gives access to a small lobby in the N angle, the stair then continues to rise in the NW wall. It is a feature of this tower house that there is a small lobby, lit by a loop, at the top of the stairs in the W angle at second and third-floor level, with evidence to suggest that these lobbies had three doorways, one at the top of the stairs, one at the entrance to the main chamber and one to a mural chamber along the SW wall. The first-floor chamber, entered from the mural stairs, was lit by a tall flat-headed loop in the centre of the SE wall. The main second-floor chamber was lit by three windows, all broken out, at the E end of the NE wall, the SE wall and the N end of the NW wall, the former having the remains of a window seat. There is a large fireplace at the N end of the NE wall, the surrounds of which are missing. At second-floor level a garderobe chamber runs along the SW wall, entered from the lobby in the W angle. The garderobe chute exits near ground level towards the S end of the SW wall. From the main chamber of the second-floor a stair rises within the SW wall of the NW window embrasure leading to the third-floor lobby. The main third-floor chamber has two arcades in the NE wall and two in the SE wall. All contain a plain, flat-headed, single-light window except the N arcade which is blank as it contains the flue from the fireplace below. There are small square floor joists in the SE and NW walls, inserted by later occupants of the tower house, in the 19th/20th centuries. The wall-plate for the wooden floor of the third-floor chamber was carried on corbels, three on the NE wall and two on the SW wall. There is a mural chamber in the NW wall, entered from the main third-floor chamber. From third-floor level a spiral stairs rises in the W angle, giving access to a fourth-floor chamber running along the NW wall and the parapet along the SW wall. At the S end of this chamber there is a broken out opening, at the base of which externally, on either side, are badly spawled projecting corbels. This may be the remains of a projecting garderobe.