Roscommon Castle

Roscommon castle was commenced by the Crown in 1269 but it was attacked and burned three times by O'Conor before construction was completed c. 1290. It was damaged by Felimid O'Conor in 1305 and repaired, but it was captured by Ruarai O'Conor in 1315 and again by Turlough O'Conor in 1540. It was occupied by the O'Conors from about 1360 until 1566, but a list of the Royal Constables of the castle can be constructed (O’Brien 2013). It was attacked by MacWilliam Burkes and the O'Kellys in 1377, and in 1394-5 Richard II made O'Conor Don constable, recognising the de facto situation. Possession moved between various O'Conor factions in the fifteenth century, being held briefly by the Earl of Kildare in 1499 and 1512, until it passed to the Earl of Clanrickard in 1553, after which the Crown began to re-assert control. In 1569 O'Conor Don surrendered the castle to the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sydney, after which it remained in government hands.

The castle was granted to Sir Nicholas Malby in 1577, and he, or his son Henry, may have transformed it into a fortified house (RO039-043010-), although repairs and alterations were also conducted in 1609. It was burned again in 1596 and 1599 by O'Donnell, and it was garrisoned by Parliamentarians under Sir Charles Coote in the 1640s until it was surrendered to the Confederate forces under General Preston after a battle in 1645. Capt. Daly surrendered it to Col. Gore for Cromwell without a fight in 1652. It may have been slighted then, but after a fire in 1691 it has remained derelict. The castle is situated on the E edge of a turlough (diam. c. 1km) and c. 800m N of St Coman's church (RO039-043006-). (Murphy and O'Conor 2008, 8-10)

The remains consist of a rectangular walled enclosure or inner ward (int. dims 53m N-S; 38m E-W) with D-shaped towers at the angles, those at SW and SE being largely unaltered from the thirteenth century. All the towers were originally of three stories, except the NW which only had two. The curtain wall survives at E and W, but is removed at S and fragmentary at N. No crenelations survive. There was also a rectangular outer ward (dims c. 110 N-S; c. 110m E-W) defined by fosses with a wall on its inner edge on all sides except the W (ibid. 21-3).

The SE tower (int. dims 7.7m NW-SE; 5.45m) is missing its NW wall and has two surviving storeys connected by mural stairs in the NE wall. The ground floor is featureless, but the first floor has a fireplace, a garderobe, and two arrow loops. The SW tower (int. dims 8.1m NE-SW; 5.5m NW-SE) survives to two storeys connected by a mural stairs in the SE wall which continues to the restored parapet over the vaulted first floor. The ground floor is vaulted, but is otherwise featureless. The first floor has a fireplace and two embrasures as well as a doorway which would have given access to the wall walk of the S wall. (ibid. 15-17)

The gatehouse on the E wall consists of the foundations of two D-shaped towers forming a rectangular block (ext. dims 22.1m N-S; 14.8m E-W) with an entrance passage (Wth 2.85m) between the towers, but only the curving walls of the towers survive above the foundations where they were incorporated into the late 16th century house with evidence of long arrow-loops and two garderobes. (ibid. 11-3) The roadway (RO039-043021-) c. 100m to the NE would certainly have led to the castle gatehouse.

The W wall of the ward is original and incorporates a rectangular postern gatehouse (ext. dims 11.55m E-W; 9.6m N-S) with a vaulted entrance passage (Wth 2.9m) complete with murder hole. A stairs in the N wall gives access through a destroyed doorway to a chamber over the passage with a robbed window and garderobes over the angles created by the gatehouse and the walls of the inner ward. (ibid. 14)

Documents suggest that from the beginning the castle consisted of two wards, as two outer bridges are mentioned in 1304 (Cal. doc. Ire., vol. 5, 116-7). At N a berm (Wth 28m) separates the castle from a fosse (L c. 90m; Wth of top 15m; Wth of base 6.6m; int. D 1.5m; ext. D 1.2m), which survives because it may have been turned into a fish-pond. A berm (Wth 40m) to the W is defined by a scarp (L 70m; H 1.4m; Wth 8m), which testing (02E1472) showed to be natural, but that a moat (Wth 6-11m) did exist inside the scarp with a masonry wall (Wth 1.4m) on its inner edge and a cobbled surface was also demonstrated (Murphy 2004b, 2006). On the S side testing demonstrated the presence of a fosse (Wth 9.5m; D 1.5m plus) (ibid). At the E there is a walled garden (RO039-043011-) overlying the backfilled moat that had a wall on its inner edge and a barbican opposite the gatehouse of the inner ward (Murphy and O'Conor 2008, 21-3).

The E gatehouse and the NW and NE towers were altered in the late 16th century when large rectangular mullion and transom windows with hood mouldings were inserted to create an L-shaped fortified house (RO039-043010-). (Murphy, 1891; de Breffny and Mott 1977, 194-5; Murphy and O'Conor 2008)

This is a National Monument in state guardianship: No. 181