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Old Castle Ward is a late medieval tower-house located in County Down, Northern Ireland. The monument stands on bedrock of the Hawick Group, formed during the Wenlock period, comprising wacke deposits that underlie the site. Protected as a historic monument under reference 7575 by the Historic Environment Division, Old Castle Ward represents a significant example of late medieval fortification in Ulster.
Tower-houses of this period were the dominant form of domestic fortification across Ireland and Scotland, typically comprising a rectangular stone tower of three to five storeys with defensive capabilities. Built to accommodate both family residence and protection of moveable goods, these structures often incorporated a ground-floor vault and narrow windows designed for security. The tower-house form emerged as practical architecture for a dispersed landowning elite during an era of political instability.
Old Castle Ward's construction reflects the regional strategies of late medieval landholders in Down, a region where such fortifications became increasingly common from the fourteenth century onwards. The substantial geology beneath the site would have provided a stable foundation for the stone structure. The monument survives today as evidence of domestic life and security concerns during the late medieval period in this part of Ulster.
Old castle ward. tower-house is a scheduled monument protected by Department for Communities NI under reference 7575. View the official record →
Old Castle Ward is a late medieval tower-house located in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) under reference 7575.
Old castle ward. tower-house dates from the late-med period, and is classified as a fortification. It is one of over 32,000 scheduled monuments protected across the UK.
Old castle ward. tower-house is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by DfC Northern Ireland (NISMR) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Ni. The official designation reference is 7575.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Navigation pillar (3 km), Motte (4.4 km), Raised rath (4.4 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Old castle ward. tower-house's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Old castle ward. tower-house stands on Hawick Group, bedrock that formed in the Wenlock. The rock here is wacke.