Browse Items (19 total)

Finds from the archaeological excavations in the mid-1990s.
1-4 copper alloy
1 buckle plate
2 stick pin
3 sewing pin
4 miniature chape (i.e, the protective end of a knife sheath)

5 bone tuning peg (for an instrument, such as a lute)

6-12…

Bird's-eye view plan of excavations in the mid-1990s under the direction of Eric Klingelhofer. Only parts of the compound were excavated.

Note the outlines of a "Tower House", "Parlor" and "Great Hall" at the bottom of the illustration. A "bawn"…

Close-up of lichen and plant life on the nineteenth-century stone addition to the castle. Up to six hundred years of exposure have taken their toll on the castle, as have raids, renovators and treasure-hunters.

Entry to the castle is locked and forbidden.

The visitor's first view inside the tower house is of the cellar, which would have been used to store goods.

The door and the window immediately above the door, as well as the rectangular opening on the same level as the door (in the staircase/garderobe block), are all modern insertions. The arrow loop on the second level of the tower block is an original…

Additional stories are missing from the top of the tower. An attacker would have been targeted by the arrow slits and windows, which also give fine views of the landscape. The ivy is no longer on the tower (as of 2009-10).

Close-up of the castle, including “Raleigh's window,” from the south. Note (to the right) the arrow slit in the staircase/garderobe tower on the same level as the window. Defense was paramount in the original castle design. The loop also serves as…

This shows the tower house from the vantage point of the marsh or seasonal lake to the south. The doorway at the bottom is formed from a pre-existing window loop (i.e., opening) and now leads into the cellar. This indicates use of the cellar as a…

Kilcolman castle stands on a ridge. In the foreground (right) can be see the remains of the south-east corner of the bawn wall, which doubled as the wall of the Great Hall on this side. The Hall and adjacent Parlor are no longer standing.