Ballinacarriga Castle

Ballinacarriga Castle survives as a ruined stone tower set on a rock outcrop, its footprint roughly rectangular and measuring about fifteen by twelve metres. The tower rises four storeys and shows refined stonework in its upper openings, with geometric carving around windows and door surrounds. An old fireplace remains inside, indicating domestic use on one or more floors.

Defensive features are visible in the masonry. Overhanging turrets, or bartizans, project from the corners, and evidence of a former machicolation survives as an opening through which defenders could have dropped objects on attackers. An unusual former portcullis arrangement is recorded at the entrance; a portcullis is a heavy, vertically sliding gate used to bar entry. Around the tower lay a stone bawn wall with four round corner towers; the most substantial vestiges of that enclosing wall survive on the north‑east side.

On the third storey two small tourelles are built into the wall opposite each other, projecting as narrow defensive or lookout elements. High on an eastern face sits a Sheela Na Gig carved in stone, shown as a naked female figure with an accentuated vulva, and religious sculpture survives elsewhere on the fabric, including a carved crucifixion panel. The inscribed date 1585 and the initials R.M. and C.C. are cut into a window sill or stone in an upper level. A carved female figure holding five roses is also set into the masonry.

Later reuse is visible in the chapel fitments and decorative work that remained into the early 19th century, reflecting the tower’s role in local worship until a new chapel was built about 1815. Remnants of the ancillary defensive walls and the ruined tower fabric are still in situ; the whole building is recognised as a monument of national importance and stands as a measurable ruin with surviving carved detail.