Eadie, G. 2015. "Know you that serving folk be of three kinds'; Irish towers and the familia', in Oram, R. (ed) 'A house such as thieves might knock at'..... Donington: Shaun Tyas. 174-188 (original) (raw)
The Tower-house in Ireland: Origins, Dating & Function
Irish tower-houses, which are typically dated between c.1400 and c.1600 , are amongst the most common of upstanding archaeological monuments in Ireland, yet many points of contention persist amongst scholars as to their origin, date and function. One particular definition describes the tower-house as ‘a compact fortified house in which the hall is raised above the ground with one or more storeys above it’ . On a considerably smaller scale than the large curtain-walled castles of the thirteenth century, the tower-house was to provide the typical abode of the Gaelic and Anglo-Irish gentry of the fifteenth and sixteenth century . In construction the tower-house, in its simplest guise, was rectangular in plan and was up to six storeys in height with various defensive features including a vaulted roof over the ground floor, which was to theoretically guard against fire spreading to the upper reaches of castle. The ground floor was typically used for storing supplies and was often the first line of defence should the main door be breached, while the second storey provided the main hall, with the remaining storeys usually consisting of the private quarters. For further protection murder-holes were often present between the ground and first floors. The tower-house was sometimes protected by a walled-courtyard (Figs. 2 and 3), though this latter feature does not appear to have been universally constructed of stone and does not often survive into modern times. The study of bawn walls is very limited, as very little archaeological excavation has taken place outside of tower-houses. Significantly, the Civil Survey of the 1650’s mentions bawn walls at only 20% of the towers it lists . Although often regarded, not as true castles but rather as mere fortified houses, the type also includes examples on a very large scale such as those great tower-houses found in Counties Limerick, Clare, Galway and Cork . However, as Colm Donnelly points out, the term ‘tower-house’ is itself of nineteenth century origin and that contemporary historical sources regard these structures simply as ‘castles’ Although the subjects of demographic ethnicity and typology by regional distribution are touched upon in places, they are not specifically treated in this study.
Early medieval houses in Ireland, as elsewhere, were the places where people slept, worked on crafts, prepared and consumed food, gathered together at night, and where a household extended hospitality to kin and neighbors. 1 Early medieval houses and dwellings were key venues for the enactment or performance of social identities of ethnicity, social status, gender, kinship, and community. As in most house societies worldwide, these buildings were effectively the places where social identities were created. Children were socialized through routine life, and, through watching their elders, learned how one interacted with people of different genders, ages, kin groups, and rank.
Three 19th-century house sites in rural Ireland
Post-Medieval Archaeology, 2010
The anthropologically-based research began in 1994 with the goal of attempting to understand the material conditions of daily life in the 19th-century Irish countryside. The excavation results presented here were obtained from individual households in counties Roscommon, Sligo and Donegal, at sites dating from the early to mid-19th century. Two of the sites are known to have been abandoned as a result of forced eviction. Particular attention is paid to the ceramics found.
'Understanding ‘Hall-Houses’: Debating Seigneurial Buildings in Ireland in the 13th Century'
Medieval Archaeology, 2017
THE SEIGNURIAL HALL and chamber have been assumed, in both Britain and Ireland, to be typically located in the only building to generally survive on medieval residential sites. In England this idea has seen some revision, but in Ireland there has been little recent scholarship on medieval residential spaces. As a consequence, the term ‘hall-house’ is still used by Irish scholars as a label for some two-storey, 13th-century buildings, providing both a description and interpretation. The inference is that these buildings acted as both halls and elite residences at the same time during the High to Late Middle Ages. This contradicts what we know of the complex social codes of the time. Drawing on new empirical research, this article challenges the ‘hall-house’ classification, and explores different ways in which the spaces of these Irish medieval buildings can be better understood.
Doctoral thesis, University of London., 1998
Dunalong 23,1 Plan of the defences 23,11 Ground plan (S) 23,111 First floor cloghan (Lough Hyne) 24,1 Visible remains and conjectured plan (S) 24,11 First floor Dunanore 25,1 Sketch plan of ground floor and bawn 25,ii Ground floor (S) z5,iii First floor (S) 25,1V Second floor (S) 25,V Third floor (S) 25,V1 Third floor mezzanine (S) 25,v11 Wallwalk (S) Derrylemlary 26,i Ground plan 26,ii Original first floor (S) 26,iii Original second floor (S) 26,iV Original third floor 26,v Interpreted plan of waliwalk (S) Farranamanagh 27,1 Ground plan Ballinoroher 28,i Ground plan 28,ii First floor (S) 28,iii Second floor (S) 28,iV Third floor (S) 28,V Fourth floor and wallwalk (S) '3 Kilgobbin 29,1 Ground floor 29,11 First floor (S) 29,111 Second floor (N.D.O.) 29,1V Third floor (N.D.O.) 29,V Fourth floor (N.D.O.) 29,vi Waliwalk (N.D.O.) Kilcrea 3o,i Ground plan o,ii First floor (S) 30,iii Second floor (S) o,iv Third floor 30,V Fourth floor (S) 3o,vi Restored waliwalk, roof omitted (S) cloghda 3i,i Ground plan 3i,ii First floor (S) 31,iii Second floor (S) i,iv Second floor mezzanine (S) 31,V Third floor(S) i,vi Conjectured original layout of waliwalk (S) Carriganacurra 32,1 Ground plan 32,11 First floor (S) 32,iii Second floor (S) 32,IV Second floor mezzanine (S) 32,V Third floor (S) 32,VI Waliwalk loft (S) O'Crowley's Castle 33,i Ground plan Timoleague 34,i Ground plan 34,ii First floor (S) '4 the Museum of London Archaeology Service (MoLAS) who provided practical help with the physical side of the production of the thesis. I would also like to thank all those who have cast light on different aspects of the work, from Irish place-names to clay pipes, who include: Dr. Terry Barry of the Department of Medieval History at Trinity College Dublin for his help with various enquiries Fred Bettes for allowing the use of his unit search computer program Dr. ohn Bradley of the Urban Archaeology Survey for his detailed information on the state of tower house studies when I was still very much at sea Josephine Brown for help producing the 'date-contour' map and computer support Fr. James Coombes of Skibereen, Co.Cork for encouraging my adolescent interest in the subject and providing many useful references Paul Ferguson, map Librarian of Trinity College Dublin, for his help with the Down Survey maps Ian Greig for patiently typing up reports for me Professor James Graham-Campbell of University College and Dr. Helen Clarke for their tremendous work in supervising this thesis Jeremy Hall, for his help with the production of the document My wife, Kate Hamlyn, for typing, editing, measuring in severe weather conditions, and making many useful suggestions The helpful staff at the Insh Ordnance Survey and the Gilbert Library, Dublin Paul McCulloch for suggesting I turned my interest in tower houses into an academic project Kenneth Nicholls for his help with Irish language and place-name questions Diarmuid O Murchadha, of the JCHAS for his interest in my work Ian Riddler for computer support, particularly with the unit search The officers of the Royal Irish Academy for permission to reproduce material My parents Edward & Stella Samuel and other members of my family and friends who have helped me both with photography and measuring tower houses My Sons Ned and Fineen Samuel, for going to sleep early Jan Scrivener, formerly of MoLAS, for printing many of my photos Tracey Wellman, Hester White and the staff of the MoI.AS Drawing Office, for their advice, assistance and use of its facilities The MoLAS IT Department for their help '7 Ca.. c/D c'. VD e'. e. e. Cl) C.') z z z z z > z . C C O >-> >.. >->..-. z C Cl -Eo 0 C Cu Cl --_a)-._-© r1 en -I-en •l-v z Table r (ii) Summary of basic features of described tower houses 23 (/D c: (ID -. (ID (ID z z Z Z 7 Z 7 z I>-C C C :z >•• >->-. Z IZ Ic'• z >-z z z >->.. Iz I.
Moving towards the formal house: room usage in early modern Ireland
Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 2010
From the mid-sixteenth century onwards fashions in building changed as Renaissance ideas were being introduced into Ireland, notwithstanding the consequences of various wars, rebellions and general upheaval of the period to the end of the seventeenth century. This meant that houses became more comfortable, more outwardly symmetrical in elevation and plan. Over the decades internal arrangements in houses and castles were transformed, with the great chamber taking precedence over the hall as the room of state. By the middle of the seventeenth century processional routes through the houses of the aristocracy gradually gave way to the flexible French arrangement of the appartement influenced by English court practice. This essay seeks to examine changes in building, plan, room usage and furnishings of the various types of high-status dwellings in Ireland during the period in question; ranging from the relatively small courtyard house, remodelling of earlier buildings and some few examples of newbuilds.