Former Bawn Wall, Dungiven Castle, Dungiven, Co Londonderry

Former Bawn Wall at Dungiven Castle

This is a surviving section of plantation-period fortification wall, badly damaged by encroachment from neighbouring buildings but retaining significant historical and architectural interest for Dungiven. It represents an important survival of 17th-century defensive architecture.

The wall is constructed of rubble sandstone, originally standing at least four metres high. It features defensive musket slots arranged in cross and vertical configurations at approximately two-and-a-half-metre intervals. The wall thickness is approximately 500mm.

On the western side, about 8 metres of wall survive before meeting a modern cattle shed. This section includes one cross-shaped musket loop and a doorway positioned to the side of Dungiven Castle itself. On the eastern side, the remaining wall is about three-and-a-half times longer. The centrepiece is a castellated entrance gate with a two-pointed arch beneath. The arch voussoirs are of smooth-cut ashlar with chamfered edges. The gate's exterior projects 200mm from the wall face and is finished entirely in ashlar. A simple stringcourse runs beneath the battlements. Musket loops on the southern side near the castle have been blocked, with evidence of former lean-to roofs now cleared away. Plaster bearing the inscription "ball alley plastered by W Comm… and L.C. … 1954" survives on the wall. Three loops on the northern side are of cross, vertical, and vertical-with-middle-indent configurations; the last of these is cut from a single stone on the exterior face.

Historically, Dungiven Castle stands on the site of a late 17th-century fortification, possibly "Lady Cooke's Castle" recorded in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs. Lady Cooke is recorded as having died in 1688, suggesting the castle dates from the second half of the 17th century. The present castle was built in 1839 by Robert Ogilby of Pellipar. The 1832 Ordnance map shows a bawn wall already in position along the line of the present structure, suggesting it was not demolished and rebuilt during Ogilby's later works. The more finished ashlar work and battlements of the gate likely date to the 1839 rebuilding. Demolition of parts of the wall occurred by 1856, when the section fronting Main Street was removed. Further demolition continued throughout the 20th century. The wall has always been owned with the castle itself. In 1890 Robert Alex Ogilby purchased the castle and grounds from the Skinners Company. In 1925 an American, James McCloskey, acquired the property; Limavady District Council obtained it and the remaining bawn wall sections in the 1980s. The bawn was listed as part of the castle structure in 1975.

The enclosed area is currently a building site, severely compromised by proximity to modern structures: a modern bar stands less than a metre from the eastern wall, and a cattle mart occupies part of the western site. The wall encloses a formal path layout and originally extended approximately 40 metres from Main Street, with a flanker at the north-west corner. It is a Scheduled Monument (SMR Ldy 25.5).