Bawn, Castle Eve, Co. Kilkenny
On a prominent rise at the eastern end of a low ridge north of the Kings River, the bawn of Castle Eve commands sweeping views across the Kilkenny countryside to the west, northwest and south.
Bawn, Castle Eve, Co. Kilkenny
This substantial defensive enclosure, measuring roughly 50 metres north to south and 62 metres east to west, forms part of a multi-period castle complex that includes a fortified house tucked into its southwest corner and an impressive mural tower at the northwest angle.
The bawn walls, built from roughly coursed limestone rubble, stand up to 6.5 metres high in places, with a thickness of 1.6 metres at the base tapering to 1.2 metres above the distinctive base-batter. The best preserved section runs for 26 metres along the western end of the north side, where a wall-walk along the top provides access to the northwest mural tower through a first-floor doorway. Though the eastern portion of the bawn has long since disappeared, substantial stretches remain standing on the western and northern sides, with fragments visible at the western end of the south wall.
A broad, deep moat once protected the western approach to the castle, crossed by a narrow stone bridge just 3.5 metres wide and 11 metres long, positioned midway along the western wall. The bridge sits flush against the north wall of the fortified house, where projecting corbels hint at the possible existence of a small gatehouse that may have controlled access. Historical Ordnance Survey maps from 1839 onwards record another tower, now ruined, at the southern end of the west wall; a mural tower that appears to have projected beyond the southern wall and against which the fortified house may have been constructed.





