Renvyle Castle
Photo: Bert K. · CC BY 2.0
Castle - tower house

Renvyle Castle

15th-century tower house on Renvyle, County Galway, Ireland.

  • AccessNot confirmed
  • National MonumentNot recorded
  • DateNot stated
  • FolkloreNone recorded
  • PhotoWikimedia Commons
Kanrawer, Co. Galway53.60709, -10.02997
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Unofficial guide. Not the National Monuments Service, the OPW, Fáilte Ireland or the landowner. Disclaimer

At a glance

  • TypeCastle - tower house
  • Recorded sizeL 9.9m, W 9.5m
  • Condition (as surveyed)Ruined

What to look for

  • Wall-walk and parapet
  • Spiral stair
  • Bawn wall
  • Vaulted floor
  • Bartizan
  • Corbels

Picked out from the Archaeological Survey description below.

Can you visit?

  • No source says it is open to the public.Most monuments in Ireland stand on private farmland.
  • Ask the landowner before crossing fields, close gates, leave the stones as you find them.Visiting responsibly
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History and description

On a natural rise overlooking sea to N. In existence in 1574 when it was in the possession of 'Miles Mc Tibbot' (Nolan 1901, 116). The ruins comprise a four-storey rectangular tower (L 9.9m, Wth 9.5m), in dangerous condition, which originally stood in NW corner of a bawn, now largely removed.

Full archaeological record 181 words

On a natural rise overlooking sea to N. In existence in 1574 when it was in the possession of 'Miles Mc Tibbot' (Nolan 1901, 116). The ruins comprise a four-storey rectangular tower (L 9.9m, Wth 9.5m), in dangerous condition, which originally stood in NW corner of a bawn, now largely removed. Much of N and E walls have fallen but sufficient survives to indicate the position of the doorway, centrally placed in E wall. This gave access to a lobby, and spiral stairs in SE corner. The ground, 1st and 2nd floors each appear to have consisted of a main chamber with a subsidiary one to E. A stone vault existed between 2nd/3rd floors. A latrine chute is visible in outer face of W wall. Apart from a small fragment of the gabled roof and corbels of bartizans at SE and NW corners, nothing survives of the parapet, roof or garret. Apart from large windows (now robbed) on 3rd floor, the remainder are all crude single lights with flat heads. (Killanin 1954, 99; O'Flanagan 1927a, Vol. 3, 26; Hardiman 1846, 119-20)

References

  • GA009-015-----04.jpg W wall from NW
  • GA009-015-----06.jpg W wall
  • GA009-015-----11.jpg View from SW
  • GA009-015-----12.jpg Detail of SW angle
  • GA009-015-----13.jpg View from NE
  • GA009-015-----14.jpg Detail of stone vault
  • GA009-015-----15.jpg View of spiral stairs in SE angle
  • GA009-015-----16.jpg SE angle
  • GA009-015-----17.jpg SE angle
  • GA009-015-----18.jpg View from S

Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service (CC BY 4.0) · Updated 05 August 2010 · Based on the Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling. It describes the site as it was when surveyed.

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      Around Renvyle Castle

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