354 



Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Typical Ground-plax. 



of a badly lighted room, entered through a short passage, \vith two 

 doors, the space between them being commanded by a "murdering 

 hole."i To one side of this porch (usually the left) is a spiral stair, 

 lit by window slits, often neatly moulded (one or more being cut in 

 the angle quoins) ; to the other side stands a small guard room. 

 The staircase,^ except where ruined deliberately, or by the fall of the 

 building, is in excellent preservation ; it usually consists of 60 to 100 



steps, with a rounded newel 

 for a hand rail ; landings 

 seldom, if ever, occur. In 

 (I think) only one instance 

 (Ballygriffy) does a door 

 lead directly from the stairs 

 to the open air. 



The tower above this 

 consists of two sections : a 

 narrow one over tbe porch 

 and guard room, including 

 the staircase and a series of 

 small rooms : and a broader 

 section containing, as a rule, 

 two rooius under one vault, 

 and an unvaulted upper room. In the case of the Clonlara castles, 

 the whole of this wing has only one vault, and that one under the 

 roof. Inchovea has two stories above the upper vault. In a few 

 examples there is no trace of vaulting anywhere.^ As a rule the 

 bottom stoiy is always vaulted ; the top stoiy is very rarely so. 



Several towers are built liigh enough to command the level country 

 over an intervening ridge ; as Teerovannan and Dunbeg, whose heads 

 are just visible over many miles of bogs, and Magowna. whicli, even 

 in its truncated condition, overlooks the ridge of Cappanakilla, towards 

 Corofin. 



Exceptional in Design. 



Gragans Castle has three cross vaults in the lower story, and a 

 straight staircase in the wall. Castletown, near Spancel Hill, has 

 also a straight staircase up the south wall, and a side stair in the east 

 wall which gives access to the roof, whicli is of stone, there being no 

 other main vault. Bohneill, Lissylisheen, and " De Clare's House" 



A. 



Porch. 



a. 



Windows. 



B. 



Porter's Room. 



b. 



Ambrev. 



C. 



Staircase. 



c. 



Fireplace 



D. 



"Cellar." 



d. 



Doors. 







e. 



Drain. 



(b frequently opens info A.) 



^ This is an old term, e.g. it occurs in Elizabethan documents. - See plan. 



^ As at " Rath " or Scool, Dough and llockvale or Clondooan. 



