This castle is a small square tower, measuring about 6.50 metres each side, with rounded corners. It was a very simple castle, with the unusual characteristic of having no stairs. The different timber floors were reached by ladders.
It stands on Moyry Pass, an important north-south route, which has always been considered one of the most difficult passages in Ireland. The site was the scene of a bloody fighting in May 1600 between the Hugh O'Neill clan and the military column led by Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, sent by Queen Elizabeth to crush the Irish clan.
Another bloody fighting occurred on the same site in September 1600, when Mountjoy had to retreat,
A year later Mountjoy built this castle to secure the pass.
All walls are protected by gun loops from the ground floor to the wall-walk, and the entrance, in the north-northeast (20°) wall, is protected by a machicolation.
A bawn wall would surround the castle, but today only a small segment of it survives to the east-northeast.
A fireplace was in the west wall on the first floor, and it projects on the outside as well.
|