In the foreground is the nineteenth-century addition, a platform or patio built around and over the pre-existing vault and accessible from the stairs and doorway in the tower-house. Behind the platform area stand the remains of the late-medieval tower-house. On the left (east) side is the tower containing the staircase and garderobe. On the right, above the platform, is seen the outline of "Raleigh's window," where legend has it that Spenser and Sir Walter Raleigh discussed poetry and politics.]]>
Spenser, in his wedding poem “Epithalamion” (1595), curses the frogs that annoy him and his bride on their wedding night: “Ne let th’unpleasant quyre of frogs still croking/ Make us to wish theyr choking” (lines 349-50). Far from being a nuisance only, the lake would have served as a natural defensive barrier for the castle and as a source of water and food.]]>
Spenser's residence in the castle may have begun as early as 1586-7 and was finished when fighting from the Nine Years' War (1594-1603) swept south and sacked the Munster plantation (and Kilcolman with it) in October, 1598. Spenser died a refugee in London early 1599. Legend has it that Spenser lost a child in the fire and also that the second half of his epic, The Faerie Queene, was lost in the displacement. Burn marks on the walls from the sacking of Kilcolman have been found, as well as burn marks from a fire a generation later, when the castle was occupied by Spenser's son, Sylvanus.]]>
The door at the bottom of the tower house in this view is modern. Above it is seen an aperture and above it, “Raleigh's window.” In the staircase block on the right (east) side can be seen three more arrow loops. At ground level can be seen an exit chute for the garderobe (modified in modern times), strategically located to drain towards the lake.]]>