Kirkistown Castle
| Kirkistown Castle | |
|
County Down | |
|---|---|
 Kirkistown Castle | |
| Type: | Tower house |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | J64505800 |
| Location: | 54°26’33"N, 5°27’58"W |
| History | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | (State care) |
Kirkistown Castle is a castle situated near Cloghy, County Down, with a tower house and bawn. Today it is a state care historic monument.[1]
This is an impressive three-storey tower house, built in 1622 by Roland Savage on the site of a ninth-century round tower. Kirkstown Castle was occupied until 1731, when it was deserted.
Although the castle dates for the period of the Plantation of Ulster, it is fully in the tradition of the late mediæval tower-house. Parts of the bawn wall survive with three-quarter round flanker towers at the angles.
The tower was remodelled in Gothic style in 1800 by a Colonel Johnston, and in 1836 some further work was performed by a very young Master Montgomery of Grey Abbey. The building was left, however, with a partial roof and broken windows, and the elements soon returned it to disrepair.[2] The Northern Ireland Environment Agency opened it to the public for the first time in 2001.
References
- ↑ List of State Care Monuments (Historic Environment Division)
- ↑ "The Parish of Ardkeen". Ros Davies' Co. Down, Northern Ireland Genealogy Website. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosdavies/PHOTOSwords/ArdkeenAll.htm.