KILLEVY CASTLE, CLONLUM, CO.ARMAGH, ** See General Comments **

Killevy Castle

Killevy Castle is an impressive mid-19th-century granite house in the Tudoresque crenellated style, formerly known as Killevy Lodge and the residence of the Foxall family. In 1836, the then-owner, Newry banker Mr Powell Foxhall, commissioned Dublin architect George Papworth to enlarge a modestly scaled farmhouse. The 1837 Ordnance Survey memoirs record: "Killevy Lodge, the residence of John Foxall Esq. is situated in the townland of Clonlum. It stands on the eastern base of Slieve Gullion and is built with considerable taste in castellated style. It was completed during the present year." The building is picturesquely set at the foot of Slieve Gullion within a maturely planted demesne, and together with its substantial farmyard, towered boundary wall, gate screen, and walled garden, forms an important group of buildings.

The house is two storeys over a basement and attic, with later tower additions to each corner. It is aligned north to south, with its principal elevation facing east. The building is constructed entirely in granite, laid in varying courses, with castellated towers to each corner. Three of these towers are square in section and similarly detailed to one another; the fourth, to the north-west, is tall, circular, and rises above the others. The hipped roof is clad in natural slate, with two granite chimneys set perpendicular to the ridge, concealed behind the castellated parapet of the entrance bay. Between the chimneys on the roof ridge sits a glazed dormer with a pitched natural slate roof. Rainwater goods are concealed behind the parapet; downpipes are cast-iron with moulded hoppers.

The property is accessed from the road via a granite gate screen on the Ballintemple Road, consisting of four gate piers — two to each end and two to the centre — with moulded copings, shallow pyramidal caps, and an elongated panel to the front face. The central pair of piers support wrought-iron gates. The wall is constructed in dressed granite blocks with chamfered copings and is terminated at each end by a rubble stone wall with embattled stone copings. From the gate screen, a tree-lined serpentine drive runs eastward to a walled garden, then continues north-west past the stable block and farmyard before reaching the castle at its west elevation. The castle is set on an elevated platform with tumbling gardens to the front below, accessed by a circular tower that terminates the right end of a granite boundary wall.

East (Principal) Elevation

The east elevation is three bays wide and symmetrical, abutted at each end by a tower. It consists of a tall central canted bay flanked by two identical bays. The castellated canted bay is two-staged, with a moulded platband between each stage, and rises above the parapet level of the flanking bays.

Stage 1 contains the full-height entrance, flanked by diagonal buttresses — each with two granite offsets — rising to a moulded platband. The timber studded entrance door is Perpendicular in style, with cusped panels and a Tudor-arched head. Set below centre is a panel with three quatrefoil insets, that to the centre containing a carved timber monkey's head door pull. Above this panel are three small, narrow round-headed panels, the central one serving as a letterbox. The door is set within a pole-moulded stucco surround with colonnettes (with moulded bases) rising to a plain frieze supported on three heavy moulded brackets. The entrance is approached by four granite steps enclosed on either side by a rubble stone dwarf wall with dressed granite copings, terminating in square-section piers with a chamfered base course and pyramidal caps. The left and right faces of the canted bay each have a timber 4/8 mullion and transom window with slightly splayed painted reveals and a stone label mould. Below each window, set into the ground to light the basement, is a cast-iron grille. The basement is accessed by a servants' tunnel from the gardens to the front.

Stage 2 features a flat-headed projecting section above the entrance door, inset with three narrow round-headed lattice-glazed windows and supporting a moulded entablature with plain frieze. Above this is the Foxall family crest, inscribed 'Faire sans Dire'. The left and right faces of the canted bay each have a 2/2 horizontally divided sliding sash window with a label mould, with a moulded roundel above each. The cills are formed by the moulded platband that separates the two stages. The canted bay is crowned by a castellated parapet, which extends back to the roof ridge, concealing the chimneys.

Each flanking bay is identical, terminated by a corner tower. At the centre of the ground floor is a window set within a large recessed Tudor-arched opening with a moulded stucco hood mould. The window is a 6/6 sash set behind a timber mullion and transom frame — the top section has six vertical divisions — with a painted cill and architrave, and an external metal security grille. The sidewalls of the recess are lined, rendered, and painted; the right-hand sidewall has a small door with 4/2 cusped panels giving access into the tower. Flanking the recessed opening are tall arrow-loop windows with painted lattice glazing. At first floor level is a 3/9 timber mullion and transom window, the top three panels of which have cusped insets.

South-east (left) Tower: There are arrow-loop windows to all three exposed faces at ground floor level. The east face has smaller staggered arrow-loop windows between each floor. The south face has a mullion window opening with lattice glazing and a slate cill at first floor level. The west face is abutted at basement level by a lean-to entrance porch and has a window at first floor level. The inner north cheek has a tongued-and-grooved door leading onto the balcony.

North-east (right) Tower: The east face has a window at ground floor level and the remains of a mullion and transom window with lattice glazing at first floor. The north face has staggered pointed-headed window openings, diminishing in height, at each floor. The west face has a window at basement and ground floor levels. The inner south cheek has a tongued-and-grooved door leading onto the balcony.

The first floor of the east elevation is set back from the ground floor, creating a balcony accessed by a tongued-and-grooved door from each tower. All windows are sliding sashes with granite cills unless otherwise noted.

South Elevation

The south elevation is abutted by a tower at either end. The exposed basement level is cement rendered; the ground floor is wet-dashed and lined; the remaining walls are finished as the façade. Between the ground and first floors is a granite platband. In the angle of each tower at first floor level is a crenellated tourelle with a corbelled base and a single narrow window to the centre — that to the right is boarded. The basement is abutted to the right by a whitewashed brick lean-to entrance porch with a natural slate roof. Its right cheek has a cast-iron lattice-framed window; the west face has a tongued-and-grooved door accessed by a number of winding concrete steps. The basement level has two 4/4 sliding sash windows with security grilles. Above these, at ground floor level, are two windows detailed as those in the recessed openings on the façade. The first floor has three arrow-loop windows, the central one of which is infilled.

West (Rear) Elevation

The west elevation has a central bowed bay and is abutted by a tower at either end — that to the left being circular. The basement and ground floor levels are cement rendered; the remaining walls are finished as the façade. Between the ground and first floors is a platband. The bow has a slate course between ground and first floor levels and a semi-conical natural slate roof with lead flashings. It has three windows at both basement and ground floor levels, all sliding sashes with cast-iron grilles. Those at basement level are 3/6 and those at ground floor are 9/9. At first floor level the bow has three arrow-loop windows to the centre — the central one lattice glazed, those to either side infilled — and a 2/4 mullion and transom window to each side. To the left of the bow, the basement has a tongued-and-grooved sheeted door with a transom and metal hood over, and to its right a 6/3 sliding sash with security grille. The basement to the right of the bow is infilled and enclosed by a rubble stone wall with castellated copings. The ground floor in this area has no openings. The first floor has two 2/2 horizontally divided sliding sash windows, one to either side of the bow.

South-west (right) Tower: The north face is abutted by a narrow full-height return that rises to eaves level of the house, with a monopitched natural slate roof. This section has a small infilled first floor window to the west; the north cheek is blank and the east cheek abuts the west elevation of the house. The west face of the tower has a timber mullion 1x3 fixed-pane window at first floor. The south face has an arrow-loop window at ground floor level and small staggered openings at upper levels. The east face has an infilled doorway at basement level; above, at ground floor level, is an arrow-loop window, the cill of which is formed by the platband of the south elevation; there is a small window opening at first floor.

North-west (left) Tower: This tower is circular and is the tallest element of the building. It has two platbands — one between basement and ground floor levels, and one below the crenellated parapet. Between each floor are several small staggered openings. At basement level the east face has an arrow-loop with lattice glazing, and the north-west face has a metal fixed-pane lattice window. At ground floor level are three arrow-loop windows, all with slate cills resting on the platband. At first floor level, the north face has a small pointed-headed window with lattice glazing and a smooth rendered surround, and the south-west face has a group of four timber mullion windows. At second floor level is a 2/4 fixed timber window to the south-west. At third floor level there is a pair of lattice-glazed mullion windows to the south-west and a similar group of three to the north-east.

North Elevation

The basement and ground floor are lined and rendered, with a platband between ground and first floor. Each floor has two equally aligned windows. Those at basement level are 6/6 sliding sashes with cast-iron grilles. Ground floor windows are 4/8 timber mullion and transom. Those at first floor are similarly detailed but 2/6, with cusped insets to the top panels.

Setting and Grounds

To the south-east of the castle is a walled garden, roughly triangular in shape and narrowing to the south-east end. The walls are random rubble with access from the north-west. At the centre of the south-east wall is a small, roofless single-storey garden house, its north-west face having a central door opening with a small window to either side; the left and right cheeks are blank.

To the front of the castle is a granite rubble wall with embattled copings, terminated at each end by a crenellated round tower with staggered window openings. The right-hand tower contains a spiral stone stair leading to the front garden. Flanking the central section of the wall is a pair of square-section towers with rendered pointed-headed caps. Below the terrace, the front garden falls to an ornamental canal, which appears to be the remains or a remodelling of a small lake shown on the Ordnance Survey second edition map, suggesting that the castle was set within a designed landscape that changed over time and is now in a neglected state.

Historical Notes

In 1852 the castle was offered for sale by auction, but a buyer was not found and subsequently some of the demesne was sold. By 1881 it had passed into the possession of the Bell family, since which time it has become known locally as 'Bell's Castle'. Between 1862 and 1889 its valuation fluctuated considerably — recorded at £22, £60, £30, £40, £60, £10, and £7 — figures that suggest the building may have been damaged by fire, been partially vacant, or been divided up during this period. The Foxall family vault is situated at the nearby St Luke's Church. There were formerly two gate lodges, both now demolished, though paintings of them are held in the Armagh Museum.