Roche’s Tower House
| Roche’s Tower House | |
|
County Wexford | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type: | Tower house |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | T01592322 |
| Location: | 52°21’5"N, 6°30’34"W |
| History | |
| Built 1400s | |
| Information | |
Roche’s Tower House is an abandoned 15th century fortification by the River Slaney in County Wexford. It is three-storey tower, to be found beside Ferrycarrig Hotel. It was built to protect ferries and other boats on the Slaney from roaming rebels and opportunistic bandits, and so to protect trade and traffic between Enniscorthy and Wexford Town: a bridge was not built in the area until 1795.
This tower house was built in the 15th century by the Roche family, which long dominated this part of the county, having arrived with Strongbow in 1169. It succeeded an earlier castle, built soon after that date, 1169 castle lie beneath the round tower.
The design of the tower house became obsolete at the tail-end of the 1500s, as artillery became more widespread, and forts like Duncannon Fort were built; better-suited for withstanding cannon bombardment.
The ruins of the original 1169 castle lie beneath the round tower on the south bank of the river, inside the grounds of the Irish National Heritage Park. The round tower is a memorial folly, built in 1858 as a memorial for those who had died in the Crimean War (1853-1856) and modelled after earlier Christian structures.
In the mid-1980s, a series of excavations were carried out at the site of the old ringwork castle. During the excavations, they discovered that the defensive ditch around the castle had been cut out of rock and that it was 23 feet wide and six feet deep. A number of items were also discovered by archaeologists. These included silver pennies from the 1200s, animal bones, pottery from France and England, a battle axe and horse shoes.