Castledoe

48 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Castledoe, from 76 m² to 129,853 m² (12.99 ha, 32.09 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 6 neighbouring parcels touch it.

Download the townland: DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its boundary, parcels and buildings; GeoJSON or KML.

No zone of a development plan covers Castledoe in the national zoning. Outside zoned towns and villages, the county development plan's rural policies apply to each application.

Source: Tailte Éireann and the Department of Housing (MyPlan), national zoning, CC BY 4.0.

• 24 May 2020Conditional

  ERECTION OF A DWELLING HOUSE WITH SEPTIC TANK

  Permission, 1 home · Donegal County Council, 2050472

• 26 Jul 2019Refused

  AN ANCILLARY STUDIO

  Retention · Donegal County Council, 1951161

• 11 Dec 2018Conditional

  ERECTION OF A DWELLING HOUSE WITH DOMESTIC GARAGE, SEPTIC TANK AND ASSOCIATED SITE WORKS

  Permission, 1 home · Donegal County Council, 1851893

Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

• Special Area of Conservation: Sheephaven SAC 001190
• Proposed Natural Heritage Area: Sheephaven 001190

Recorded monuments

• DG026-023001 Castle - tower house
  Description

  Doe Castle is a National Monument (No. 319) in State care. It is first mentioned in 1544 in connection with an internecine struggle between the sons of MacSweeny Doe. Some survivors of the Spanish Armada were granted refuge here in 1588. Between 1600 and 1614 the castle figured prominently in the local wars between the English and Irish. In 1614 it came into the possession of Capt. John Sandford and in 1623 it was described as 'an ancient strong castle, three storeys high, and a bawn of lime and stone . . . . with good flankers . . . . The castle and bawn (DG026-023003-) are well repaired by Captain Samford who hath made in it some additions of buildings, and hath covered the house and slated it, and is now building a stone house within the bawn' (Treadwell 1953-5, 43). Shortly after the outbreak of rebellion in 1641, Doe Castle fell into Irish hands and it was here, in 1642, that Owen Roe O'Neill landed with a hundred Irish veterans. It was captured by English forces under Sir Charles Coote in 1650 and continued as a military garrison during the second half of the 17th century. In the Williamite Wars it was taken by Donogh Og MacSweeny after the occupants had withdrawn for safety to Derry. It was subsequently abandoned and fell into ruins. Towards the end of the 18th century the lands came into the possession of George Vaughan Harte and c. 1800 he began to restore Doe Castle. 'All except the keep or tower was a complete ruin nearly level to this ground, even the court walls. The tower too was open from bottom to top . . . His son and successor, . . . Captain John Hart, finally completed the castle out-buildings and other improvements at great expense' (Fagan Bk. 2, 26). William Harte, who visited Doe during one of these alterations, records that on the E side 'there has lately been constructed outside of the exterior stone wall, a lunette of earthwork, on which are mounted five long nine-pounders cannon' (Floredice 1881, 3). The Harte family moved to Kilderry near Muff in 1864 and the estate was soon after purchased by Stewart of Ards. Though subsequently let to various tenants, the castle was abandoned by c. 1890 and allowed to fall into ruins. It was bought by the Irish Land Commission in 1932 and is now a national monument (McDonagh 1952, 381-402). Situated on a small promontory in Sheephaven Bay, Doe Castle is protected on three sides by the sea and on the landward W side by a deep rock-cut fosse. The remains comprise a tower-house with adjoining outbuildings enclosed by a bawn wall. Due largely to its chequered history and, in particular, to the alterations carried out there during the earlier 19th century by the Harte family, it is difficult, and in places, impossible to distinguish the original features from the later additions and reparations. The tower-house or keep is built of rubble laid in mortar and has ashlar quoins; the walls have battered lower courses. The four-storey building is rectangular in plan, 4.28m by 5.8m internally and 16.75m in height to the top of the parapet. It had timber floors carried on scarcements at third-floor level. The interior has been modified and an extra wall added against the E face, which rises the full height of the building. It was inserted to accommodate corner fireplaces and has a central arched embrasure on each floor. The entrance to the keep is in the S wall and a mural stair beside it on the E gives access to the upper floors. The ground-floor chamber has two wall-presses in the angles of the NE and NW corners. There is a large opening in the N wall, probably the position of a window embrasure. The embrasure in the W wall is fitted with three conjoined gun-loops centrally set in the outer wall. Access to the first-floor is by a doorway in the centre of the E wall. The chamber is lighted by windows (now large rectangles) set in rectangular embrasures centrally placed in the other three walls. There are wall-presses in the NW corner and at the W end of the S wall. The mural garderobe at the E end of the N wall is entered by a corner doorway fitted with a small internal bolt-hole. Access to the second floor was only from the chamber on the floor above. This third-floor chamber has diagonally opposing entrances in the N end of the W wall and S end of the E wall which communicated by a quarter-turn spiral stairs with doorways in the N and S walls of the floor below. The second-floor chamber is lighted by a small rectangular window with chamfered dressings and slightly splayed ingoings in the S wall; there is evidence in the exterior masonry of the N wall for two blocked-up windows. The mural stairs rises steeply through the E wall and changes to a spiral stairs in the NE angle which leads onto a mural passage in the E wall at third-floor level. A small doorway gives access to a mural garderobe at the E end of the N wall; the shute drops to behind that at first-floor level. There is a doorway across the mural passage in the E wall; the masonry has been altered and is, in part, modern but incorporates earlier jamb fragments, one of which has a bolt-hole. A door in this position would have effectively prohibited access to both the third and second floors. S of this doorway is the entrance to the third-floor chamber. It is lighted on three sides by windows set in rectangular embrasures; that in the W wall is a modern rectangular opening, that in the N wall is narrow with a trefoil head, and in the S wall is of a two-light, ogee-headed window with transom. There is a wall-press in SW corner and the room has two doorways which provide access to the floor below. An embrasure at the E end of the S wall has a stop-chamfered doorway with pointed head in the exterior face. There are two opposing sinkings in the embrasure ingoings near the inner wall face which were undoubtedly fitted with a timber cross-beam. This may have formed part of a winch-mechanism and the outer door used for hauling merchandise or stores into the upper apartments of the keep. The floor of the embrasure is open and directly above the entrance of the spiral stairs on the floor below; it probably had a trap-door and the second-floor may have been used for storage purposes. Within the E and W gable is an attic floor which is entered by a pointed doorway from the mural stairs in the E wall. The stairs lead to the SE corner of the wall-walk, which has an over-sailing parapet with rain-water outlets; the parapet is undoubtedly a restoration and is pierced with five rectangular openings. On the E and S of the keep is an L-shaped building with a battered two-storey circular flanker at the NE corner. The flanker has a conical corbelled roof and is fitted with three gun-loops on the ground floor and two loops and a small pointed window with chamfered dressings on the first floor. The N wall of this addition is probably a modern rebuilding and in the exterior face above the entrance incorporates the initials G.V.H. (George Vaughan Harte) and the Harte Coat of Arms. This L-shaped building may possibly be contemporary with the large hall built on the S of the keep. The lower courses of the W wall of this building are battered. The gun-loops and window with chamfered dressings in the ground floor of the E wall may be original features. The N wall of this building is undoubtedly modern and the E and W walls at first floor level are probably replacements of earlier walls. The upper section of the S wall is offset on the exterior and carried on a chamfered over-sailing course, on the interior, at first-floor level; the chamfer is punch dressed in 16th century fashion. The off-set, converted to a wall-walk, oversails the exterior wall face, is provided with rain-water outlets and defended by a machicolation. The bawn wall is not bonded into the SE corner of this building and is probably a later addition; the wall is bonded into the SW corner but only to first-floor level. The three-storey circular tower which abuts the NW corner and the SW corner of the k

• DG026-023002 Graveslab (present location)
  Description

  At Doe castle. located on the exterior N face of the tower adjoining the SW corner of the keep (DG026-023001-). This 16th century trapezoidal tomb slab was brought here from the nearby graveyard (DG026-024003-) in 1968. It is carved with an elaborate cross; the head comprises an interlace centre-piece with seven radiating spear-shaped terminals. The shaft is decorated with a double band interlace pattern and rises from a Calvary of five steps which encloses the sacred monogram I.H.C. On the left of the shaft are carved, a bird and three animal figures (including a bull?) and, on the right, three interlace designs, a vine-leaf pattern and (now broken) an animal figure. The slab is damaged and the date and inscriptions on the right-hand edge and 'the date may be 1544 [M] CCCCCXXXXIIII, . . . and the name of the sculptor MADONIUF ORAVAITY [ME] FECIT' (1903, 139). The name of the person for whom it was carved is indecipherable but it was assuredly for one of the McSweenys of Doe. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

• DG026-023003 Bawn
  Description

  Doe Castle (National Monument Number 319): It is first mentioned in 1544 in connection with an internecine struggle between the sons of MacSweeny Doe. Some survivors of the Spanish Armada were granted refuge here in 1588. Between 1600 and 1614 the castle figured prominently in the local wars between the English and Irish. In 1614 it came into the possession of Capt. John Sandford and in 1623 it was described as 'an ancient strong castle, three storeys high, and a bawn of lime and stone . . . . with good flankers . . . . The castle and bawn (DG026-023003-) are well repaired by Captain Samford who hath made in it some additions of buildings, and hath covered the house and slated it, and is now building a stone house within the bawn' (Treadwell 1953-5, 43). Shortly after the outbreak of rebellion in 1641, Doe Castle fell into Irish hands and it was here, in 1642, that Owen Roe O'Neill landed with a hundred Irish veterans. It was captured by English forces under Sir Charles Coote in 1650 and continued as a military garrison during the second half of the 17th century. In the Williamite Wars it was taken by Donogh Og MacSweeny after the occupants had withdrawn for safety to Derry. It was subsequently abandoned and fell into ruins. Towards the end of the 18th century the lands came into the possession of George Vaughan Harte and c. 1800 he began to restore Doe Castle. 'All except the keep or tower was a complete ruin nearly level to this ground, even the court walls. The tower too was open from bottom to top . . . His son and successor, . . . Captain John Hart, finally completed the castle out-buildings and other improvements at great expense' (Fagan Bk. 2, 26). William Harte, who visited Doe during one of these alterations, records that on the E side 'there has lately been constructed outside of the exterior stone wall, a lunette of earthwork, on which are mounted five long nine-pounders cannon' (Floredice 1881, 3). The Harte family moved to Kilderry near Muff in 1864 and the estate was soon after purchased by Stewart of Ards. Though subsequently let to various tenants, the castle was abandoned by c. 1890 and allowed to fall into ruins. It was bought by the Irish Land Commission in 1932 and is now a national monument (McDonagh 1952, 381-402). Situated on a small promontory in Sheephaven Bay, Doe Castle is protected on three sides by the sea and on the landward W side by a deep rock-cut fosse. The remains comprise a tower-house with adjoining outbuildings enclosed by a bawn wall. Due largely to its chequered history and, in particular, to the alterations carried out there during the earlier 19th century by the Harte family, it is difficult, and in places, impossible to distinguish the original features from the later additions and reparations. The bawn walls have a prominent batter on the exterior. A flight of steps in the centre of the N and E walls gives access to the wall-walk with crenellated parapet. There is a pointed doorway in the S wall and another centrally set in the E wall is defended by a machicolation. The main entrance to the bawn is by a causeway over the fosse on the W, which is protected by crenellated walls fitted with gun-loops; these walls are not bonded on the E into the main curtain wall and projecting gate-tower. Immediately within the gate is the entrance to an underground passage which leads to a postern in the fosse through the S side of the causeway. The shaft in the SW section of the bawn may be the remains of a dried-up well. It is impossible to determine how much of the bawn wall is original and how much is a later restoration. In the light of Fagan's comments it is probable that considerable sections of the upper courses are secondary and the regular crenellations must certainly be Harte's work. The ravelin outside the bawn wall on the E should also be included as part of the conversion of the ruined Doe Castle into a pseudo-fortified residence though it is possible that there was an earlier work in that position. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

• DG026-023004 Promontory fort - coastal
  Description

  In fertile pasture on a lowlying north-eastern facing promontory in Sheephaven Bay stands the ruins of Doe Castle, a 16th century keep (DG02-023001-) and later extensions set within a sub-rectangular bawn (DG026-023003-). The enclosing curtain wall is defended by three bartizans and a three-quarter flanker at the NE angle. An angled ravelin juts out into the bay at northeast. The site is also defended by an 8m wide fosse across the neck of the headland with a causeway now supporting an enclosed defended gateway with subterranean postern gate beneath. Two recent external stone walls cross the isthmus parallel to the fosse and a faint earthen bank suggests the former presence of a defensive bank. The whole site was the subject of many restorations and rebuilding in the past, with 19th century landscaping efforts obliterating many original defensive features. This description is derived from a survey of promontory forts undertaken by Markus Casey for the Heritage Council: Casey, M. 2001 The coastal promontory forts of Ireland: interim report for the Heritage Council. Unpublished specialist report, National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Date of upload: 27 September 2019

• DG026-024001 Church
  Description

  There is no trace of the 'Church in ruins' shown here on the 2nd edition of the OS 6-inch maps. It was located inside the graveyard (DG026-024003-) close to the shore of Sheephaven Bay near Doe Castle. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

• DG026-024002 Graveslab
  Description

  Tomb-slab: On the exterior N face of the tower adjoining the SW corner of the keep (DG026-023001-) [Doe castle tower house] is a 16th century trapezoidal tomb slab; it was brought from the graveyard (DG026-024003-) to Doe castle in 1968. It is carved with an elaborate cross; the head comprises an interlace centre-piece with seven radiating spear-shaped terminals. The shaft is decorated with a double band interlace pattern and rises from a Calvary of five steps which encloses the sacred monogram I.H.C. On the left of the shaft are carved, a bird and three animal figures (including a bull?) and, on the right, three interlace designs, a vine-leaf pattern and (now broken) an animal figure. The slab is damaged and the date and inscriptions on the right-hand edge and 'the date may be 1544 [M] CCCCCXXXXIIII, . . . and the name of the sculptor MADONIUF ORAVAITY [ME] FECIT' (1903, 139). The name of the person for whom it was carved is indecipherable but it was assuredly for one of the McSweenys of Doe. Date of revision : 16 May 2009 Caimin O'Brien

• DG026-024003 Graveyard
  Description

  There is no trace of the 'Church in ruins' (DG026-024001-) shown here on the 2nd edition of the OS 6-inch maps. It was located inside the graveyard (DG026-024003-) close to the shore of Sheephaven Bay near Doe Castle. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

Architectural heritage

• Doe Castle, castle/fortified house, 1550–1830 · National interest
  Description

  Tower house and bawn, built in early sixteenth century, comprising moat and irregular bawn enclosing four-storey tower house with attic and two-stage casemate, altered c.1820 with addition of barbican to west, three-stage outer round-plan tower to northeast of bawn, round-plan tower of c.1820 to west of tower house, and remains of two two-storey buildings to east of tower house. Now ruinous and in care of Office of Public Works. Pitched slate roof to tower house with raised parapets having flat rendered copings and rendered chimneystack. Roughcast rendered walls with square-headed openings throughout, comprising loops and pair of trefoil-headed windows within square-headed opening to west at first floor level, and round-headed opening to south. Stone corbelled roof to casemate with remains of render to rubble stone walls, having loops to north and east. Rubble stone barbican to west with splayed sills to square-headed openings. Round tower to west of tower house has raised and crenellated parapet and loops throughout. Three-bay two-storey facade to east of tower house with crenellated parapet, square-headed window openings and central round-headed doorway with initials 'CVH' and coat of arms over doorway. Three-bay two-storey facade to south with large round-headed openings to first floor. Rubble stone bawn wall with crenellated parapet, corner bartizans and incorporating two-stage round tower of c.1820 to northeast, with machicolation and crenellated parapet, having loops throughout. Pointed-arch opening to west with machicolation over, and lancet opening to east. Remains of ravelin of c.1780 in rubble and earth to east. Overlooks Sheephaven Bay to north, south and east, with graveyard to southwest where MacSuibhne (MacSweeny) chieftains were buried.

Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Buildings: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).

Radon

About 1 in 10 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

Susceptibility moderately high, moderately low, low, low (inferred), on the 1:50,000 map.

Terrain model

No LiDAR survey of the Office of Public Works covers the centre of the townland of Castledoe.

Flooding

The flood maps of the Office of Public Works: floodinfo.ie.

Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency; Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland; both CC BY 4.0. LiDAR: contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland & the Office of Public Works) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

No address of the register names Castledoe with five sales or more. The sales of the area are on the page of Co. Donegal.

Name

Castledoe · Caisleán na dTuath

Area

918,785 m² (91.88 ha, 227.04 acres)

Civil parish

Clondahorky, and its townlands

Barony

Kilmacrenan

Electoral division

Doe Castle, the unit of the census

Census 2022

Doe Castle electoral division: 278 people in 98 households; 88% of households own their home; 35% of homes were built since 2001; 7% of dwellings stood vacant on census night, and 20% were holiday homes.

Neighbouring townlands

Cashel, Magherablad, Ummerafad

Placenames

Castledoe on logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland

Townlands, civil parishes, baronies and electoral divisions, National Statutory Boundaries, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. Census 2022, Small Area Population Statistics by electoral division, Central Statistics Office, CC BY 4.0. A townland is the smallest land division of Ireland, and the unit of a rural address; old registers such as the 1901 and 1911 censuses file it under its civil parish and barony.