Pallas Castle and bawn, County Galway, in March 1986. A secret National Monument.
It is worth quoting Peter Harbison: “Possibly the best preserved tower house in a county which has many well preserved examples. The tower is 5 storeys high, with the third storey vaulted. Besides having a guard’s room and a ‘dog’s hole’, the ground floor has an oven which was added later.
There are a number of good fireplaces preserved on the various floors, with a head on that of the first floor. The fourth has attractive mullioned windows framed in arches.
The tower is surrounded by an extremely well preserved bawn, which was entered by a two storey gate house. The bawn has two turrets at each corner, and has internal steps and parapets.
On the west side of the bawn is a house which was built as part of the bawn, and which has its own entrance through the bawn wall.
Some buildings in the SW corner probably date from the 19th century….
