54°26′33″N 5°27′58″W / 54.4424°N 5.4661°W
Kirkistown Castle is a tower house situated near Cloghy, County Down, Northern Ireland.
History
editThe building is a three-storey tower house, built in 1622 by Roland Savage, a Norman landlord,[1] at the site of a ninth-century round tower. It was occupied until 1731, when it was deserted.
Structure
editThe house post-dates the Plantation, but is fully in the late medieval tower-house tradition. 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 Col. 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.[citation needed]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Kirkistown Castle". goireland.com. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008.
- ^ "The Parish of Ardkeen". Ros Davies' Co. Down, Northern Ireland Genealogy Website. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2008.