FOLLY
Description: The 'Admiral Tower' is a small rectangular structure built from mainly dressed local stones. It is orientated north - south. The north wall is 3.0m long, while that at the south is 3.02m long. The east and west walls are longer, being 3.90m and 4.0m respectively. All the walls are approx. 4.0m high and 0.42m thick. Mortar has been used throughout the construction. Access is by way of a door in the north wall. The doorway measures 1.63m high and is 0.75m wide. It has a sandstone lintel 0.87m long, 0.14m thick and 0.42m wide. Internally the tower is 2.25m wide and 3.08m long. Some remnant plaster adheres to the internal walls, notably the east wall, suggesting that the interior was finished and may have been decorated. There is no sign of any flooring. This may have been covered by detritus. There are two windows, one in the east wall and the other in the west. The west window is 0.89m wide, 2.36m high, and is 1.64m above the present internal ground level. It has an arched lintel of small stones. The east window is 1.22m wide and 2.4m high of which 0.80m has been blocked up with small to medium-sized stones and plastered. It is 1.60m above the present internal ground level. There are no lintel stones in place. A small scattering of stones immediately adjacent to the exterior of the east wall seem to be the collapse of the lintel. A circular aperture 0.44m in diameter is located in the lower south wall 0.81m above present internal ground level. The aperture is formed by a circle of small stones angled to give support and to form a circular opening. No definite function could be ascribed to this structure but in the context of a folly it may have had a purely decorative purpose. No trace of a roof to the tower is evident. This may have been deliberate in order to give it the appearance of an ancient ruin, however the presence of plaster might suggest that a roof did originally exist. The tower probably dates from the C18th or C19th. There is no immediate threat to the structure. It is not shown on any of the eds. of the CS of the OS maps or on the current IG.
Country: Northern Ireland
District: DOWN
Townland: RINGDUFFERIN
Period/Subject: C18TH/C19TH - FOLLY
Identifiers:
[ADS] Depositor Id: MRD187:125
[ADS] Import RCN: NISMR-MRD187:125
People Involved:
[Publisher] DoENI Environment and Heritage Service
Cite record using this URL:
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archsearch/record?titleId=2609079
