Clough Castle

Clough Castle is the site of an Anglo-Norman motte-and-bailey situated in Clough, County Down, Northern Ireland, near the junction of the A25 and A24 roads.[1] Clough Castle Motte and bailey and tower are State Care Historic Monuments in the townland of Clough, in Down District Council area, at grid ref: J4092 4029.[2] The castle was built following John de Courcy's 1177 seizure of eastern Ulster.

Clough Castle, October 2009

Features

It is an excellent example of an Anglo-Norman castle with an added stone tower. A small kidney-shaped bailey lies south of a large mound, originally separated from it by a 2.1m deep ditch.[1] On top of the 25 ft high motte is a stone tower, enlarged to become a tower house in the 15th century. It is sited off-centre as much of the rest of the top of the motte was occupied by a large hall, which apparently burned down. Around the motte is a ditch, and on the south-east side a low crescent shaped bailey, which was probably once joined to the motte by a wooden bridge.[3]

Excavations

Excavations on the summit of the mound in 1950 revealed that originally (in the late 12th or early 13th century) the top of the motte was surrounded by a timber palisade within which were pits for archers. Also found was the foundation of a long rectangular hall in the north-east half of the area, probably built in the mid 13th century. Later in the same century a small rectangular stone keep was built to the south-west, two storeys high and surviving to this day, having been conserved in 1981–82. In the late Middle Ages, after what appears to have been a period of disuse, it was restored and added to, resulting in an L-shaped tower house.[1]

  • Clough Castle, October 2009
  • Information board, Clough Castle, October 2009
  • Clough Castle, October 2009
  • Clough Castle, October 2009

References
  1. Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (1983). Historic Monuments of Northern Ireland. Belfast: HMSO. p. 98.
  2. "Clough Castle" (PDF). Environment and Heritage Service NI - State Care Historic Monuments. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
  3. Harbinson, P. (1992). Guide to National and Historic Monuments of Ireland. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. p. 107.
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