The south side of the town of Fethard still has a nice long stretch of medieval town walls. They run approximatley from east to west for about 150 metres.
In 1292 king Edward I (also known as Longshanks) granted the burgesses of Fethard the permission to build a wall around the village to secure the inhabitants and for the greater security of Ireland. Further grants arrived in 1375 and 1409. Most of the wall visible today was probably built during to the five year murage levy of 1450–1455, that was granted during the Lord Lieutenancy of Richard, Duke of York. Two 12-year maintenance-and-repair grants were issued in 1456 and in 1468. Despite the efforts, the walls couldn't prevent the burning of the town by Garret Fitzgerald in the spring of 1468, who wanted to avenge the judicial murder of Thomas Fitzgerald, Earl of Desmond.
Incorporated into the walls there's the Edmond's Castle, a rare 15th century hall house. Just like Court Castle it was built on a small plot of land next to the churchyard and similarly to the other building it's a three-storey house with a dual orientation. The lower storey opens onto the street, the two upper storeys face the churchyard and the nearby church. The upper storeys cannot be accessed from the ground floor, there was an external staircase, but this feature is hardly detectable today. The lower storey had a direct access to the churchyard and this gives substance to the theory that this building could have been the priest's house. It belonged to the Everards, a wealthy family of Fethard.
The upper storeys contained fine, open-roofed halls, complete with garderobes and fireplaces, thus indicating the high level of comfort in the pre-Georgian dwelling.
The coordinates for this page have been taken at this house.
UPDATE: June 21st, 2017 - A new visit to this castle. The first 4 photos in this page are from the previous visit.
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