Rockstown Castle

The castle is a square-plan tower house set on a rocky outcrop and rises to the height of five storeys. The masonry displays the Norman stylistic influence noted for such buildings, and the tower sits directly above the bedrock, using the natural rise as part of its position. A deep trench cut into the rock runs directly in front of the doorway, forming a hardened approach to the entrance. Above the doorway the remains of a machicolation, an opening through which defenders could drop objects on anyone below, are visible and the doorway itself shows signs of damage. Much of the external stonework still stands, and corbels that once supported the roof line remain. At one corner a small turret projects above the former roof level.

Vertical circulation is provided by a winding stair built into a corner of the tower that climbs to the roof level and is lit by narrow slits. Good hinge stones survive at the doorways leading from the stair into the rooms, indicating how internal doors were fitted. The interior plan is arranged with large principal rooms occupying most of the tower and smaller rectangular chambers accessed from the stair. The second-floor main room retains an open fireplace in one corner, though the ceiling that once covered that room has been lost. The ground-floor level survives in the form of a vaulted ceiling above a missing ground floor, and a vaulted ceiling is also recorded on the third floor, showing the use of masonry vaulting within the tower.

Light and defence were combined in a variety of narrow slit windows, most with square heads and some in upper levels with rounded or ogee-headed shapes; several of these slits contain slopstones, shallow ledges for draining. The top storey contains three deeply recessed round-headed windows, two of which survive as paired, two-light openings and the third is heavily ruined. The castle occupies the edge of a cliff or rocky rise and stands adjacent to the ruins of an old church that has two large windows of a type comparable to the castle’s principal openings. Nearby prehistoric menhirs complete the site’s archaeological setting, and local stories continue to connect the physical remains with buried treasure and ghostly guardians.