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and the early Anglo-Norman pre-tower-house eras.The
discovery of the possible presence of a seventh-century
horizontal watermill tied in with that of another such
mill found in the neighbouring site of Little Island, Co.
Cork (Rynne 1998, 73). Pollock concurs, however, with
a personal comment by Rynne, in which the latter states
that the evidence of a seventh-century horizontal mill
on the site is ‘underwhelming’, although future work may
clarify this. He is on more solid ground when he
proposes that a pre-tower-house mortared building
(possibly 200 years older than the tower-house and co-
extant with it), a pond and diversions of streams (i.e.
evidence of milling) all add weight to the supposition
that a manor existed at Carrigtohill in the thirteenth
century, with Barryscourt as a caput or fortified manorial
centre.
This monograph will be an invaluable source for
archaeologists in any future pre-restoration archaeological
work, as it will be for any intended conservation work
on the site. It will be of interest to students of archaeology
as an insight into how thorough and painstaking
excavations can build up a picture of a site, provide new
insights and solve previously unanswered questions. It is
also an example of how interdisciplinary cooperation can
bring a clarity to a topic not achievable in isolation. For
theorists, a case for the revision of the nomenclature of
J.A.K. DEAN. The gate lodges of Leinster: a gazetteer. Dublin: Wordwell Books, 2016; 457pp. ISBN 978 0-9933518-3-
9. Paperback €35.
The definition of ‘gazetteer’ is ‘a geographical
dictionary’. While this is technically a correct
description of this volume, J.A.K. Dean’s The gate lodges
of Leinster is so much more than the dry definition that
this would suggest.
This book follows the publication by the Ulster
Architectural Heritage Society of The gate lodges of
Ulster: a gazetteer in 1995. The necessity of developing
this work to encompass the remainder of the country
is stated in the introduction (p. ix), where it is noted
that ‘only four out of ten lodges in Leinster indicated
on the first-edition Ordnance Survey map of the 1830s
or 1840s had survived’.The writer, however, progressed
the fieldwork and research for Leinster concurrently
with Munster and Connacht, much to the benefit of
the work.The volumes covering the gate lodges of these
provinces are planned to be published in future. The
large scope of this research revealed the previously
unknown designers of many of the lodges.
The author includes a history of the type as an
introduction to the main text, which is richly illustrated
in a format similar to that of Mark Bence-Jones’s A
the building we now call a tower-house can be found in
Rory Sherlock’s very interesting contribution (Chapter
13). Archaeology and history enthusiasts interested in the
tower-house in general, and in Barryscourt in particular,
will find here absorbing material. There is no doubt in
anyone’s mind that Barryscourt is to be seen as a high-
status site that has comparanda in Ireland, England and
Wales and that influenced tower-houses built after it in
this country.
The author, editor, executive editor and expert
contributors are to be congratulated on their association
with a fine work.
FELICITY PHILPOTT
Independent scholar
(felicityphilpott@hotmail.com)
References
Monk, J. and Tobin, R. 1991. Barryscourt Castle: an
architectural survey. Carrigtwohill.
O’Keeffe, T. 1997. Barryscourt Castle and the Irish tower
house.The Barryscourt Trust and Gandon Editions,
Kinsale.
Rynne, C. 1998. Technology change in Anglo-Norman
Munster. The Barryscourt Trust and Gandon
Editions, Kinsale.
guide to Irish country houses, to which these volumes are
intended as a companion.The quality of the illustrations
is especially impressive when it is realised that the
author has identified 4,285 lodges in Leinster, far more
than the 2,100 in Ulster.The depth of scholarly research
is impressive; the writer includes an architectural
critique on the entries and is a delight to read.
This reviewer found this book so informative,
entertaining and well written that it was initially
consumed in three sittings from cover to cover, and has
since been returned to frequently.The reviewer was left
with the determination to seek out the Ulster volume,
and thereafter eagerly await the publication of the
Munster and Connacht volumes. A book, therefore, not
just for architects or architectural historians but for
anyone with an interest in the buildings of Ireland’s
countryside.
MÁIRTÍN D’ALTON, MRIAI
(mdaltonarch@eircom.net)
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