Termonfeckin - Tower Houses

Termonfeckin - Tower House - Louthiana

Wright's perspective drawing of 'Torfeckan-Castle', as he styles it (Louthiana, Bk. II, Plate XIX). The value of this drawing, and the accompanying plan (not reproduced) lies in the fact that all trace of this building is now gone, though its site in Termonfeckin village is known. Note the relatively luxuriant vegetation in the foreground.

Termonfeckin - Tower House - Louthiana

Wright's perspective drawing of 'Torfeckan-Castle', as he styles it (Louthiana, Bk. II, Plate XIX). The value of this drawing, and the accompanying plan (not reproduced) lies in the fact that all trace of this building is now gone, though its site in Termonfeckin village is known. Note the relatively luxuriant vegetation in the foreground.

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The small sleepy village of Termonfeckin belies its origins as an important early monastic site. According to tradition, it was founded by St. Fechin of Fore in AD 665 and the discerning antiquarian will find a myriad of remains connected with its ecclesiastical history - an intact high cross, the base of a second cross, an inscribed cross-slab, the sites of two early churches, two holy wells, a souterrain (see Donaghmore for general details on souterrains), and the site of a monastery of Arroasian canons founded in the 1140s (for further details on these monuments, see Buckley and Sweetman 1991).

Termonfeckin - Tower House - Photo

This modern photograph of the surviving Tower House at Termonfeckin is taken from the east (from Buckley and Sweetman 1991, Plate XVI(b)). Some of the alterations to the ground storey layout are clearly visible.

Termonfeckin - Tower House - Photo

This modern photograph of the surviving Tower House at Termonfeckin is taken from the east (from Buckley and Sweetman 1991, Plate XVI(b)). Some of the alterations to the ground storey layout are clearly visible.

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After the Anglo-Norman colonization of Louth in the late 12th century, Termonfeckin evolved into a medieval borough.[*1] While little is known of its layout and size, it was sufficiently important to have possessed a parish church (on the site of the present Church of Ireland) and two castles. Both of these appear to have been Tower Houses (see Roodstown Castle for general details on this type of castle). Only one of these Tower Houses survives today, but when Thomas Wright visited Termonfeckin in the 1740s both of them were standing. Possibly because of its associations with the famous Archbishop Ussher, Wright chose to record only one of these castles (Louthiana, Book II, Plate XIX-XX).

Termonfeckin Castle - Grose 1791

This engraving of the demolished castle at Termonfeckin was made by Francis Grose in c.1791 and published in Grose's Antiquities of Ireland (1794-6). At first sight, there appears to be very little in common between it and Wright's drawing of the same castle made half a century earlier. However, if you focus on the castle itself, the two drawings agree quite well and are in fact drawn from the same perspective.

Termonfeckin Castle - Grose 1791

This engraving of the demolished castle at Termonfeckin was made by Francis Grose in c.1791 and published in Grose's Antiquities of Ireland (1794-6). At first sight, there appears to be very little in common between it and Wright's drawing of the same castle made half a century earlier. However, if you focus on the castle itself, the two drawings agree quite well and are in fact drawn from the same perspective.

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Ironically, this tower has now vanished, though its site is well known: it stood just south ofon the river bank at the western end of the village just south of the bridge. It certainly still stood in 1791 (see illustration) but was gone by the time the Ordnance Survey of Ireland visited Termonfeckin in the late 1830s.

Termonfeckin - Tower House - Buckley

This drawing of the surviving Tower House at Termonfeckin is one of a series of 'isometric views' of monuments in the Archaeological Survey of County Louth (from Buckley and Sweetman 1991, Fig. 260). They are an innovative feature of this publication and relieve the tedium of the plan and section format so characteristic of archaeological survey publications.

Termonfeckin - Tower House - Buckley

This drawing of the surviving Tower House at Termonfeckin is one of a series of 'isometric views' of monuments in the Archaeological Survey of County Louth (from Buckley and Sweetman 1991, Fig. 260). They are an innovative feature of this publication and relieve the tedium of the plan and section format so characteristic of archaeological survey publications.

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The surviving tower house (see isometric view) stands at the eastern edge of the village. It is a three storey rectangular building which originally had projecting towers on its N and S angles. However, it has been the subject of major alterations at some time in its history, particularly on the ground storey. These alterations are possibly the work of one Captain Brabazon who is documented as having 'repaired' the castles in Termonfeckin in 1641 (Harbison 1970, 166). The castle's major architectural feature is the very fine stone-built vault which spans the 2nd storey. This employs the same building technique - corbelling - as the roof of the prehistoric passage tomb at Newgrange, which lies only 15km to the south-west. While it is tempting to speculate about 'connections' between these two monuments, it is best to put down the occurrence of corbelling to co-incidence rather than 'continuity'.