Survey Data
Reg No
20902602
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical
Original Use
House
Date
1840 - 1850
Coordinates
166579, 106916
Date Recorded
30/10/2006
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay three-storey rectangular plan house, built c. 1845, now roofless. Recessed bowed turrets to north-east and south-west. Crenellations and limestone eaves course to roofline. Rubble limestone masonry walls. Square-headed window openings with roughly dressed limestone lintels and sills. Round-headed door opening to north-east, now blocked up. Sandstone plaque to east wall. Remains of mill to north.
Appraisal
Castle Curious was personally designed and constructed by local eccentric Johnny Roche, who used the building as a workshop, smithy and home. The structure is built in the castle style and retains the remains of a complex interior plan. The carved date-stone to the east elevation was removed from a bridge built by Roche and inserted into the wall of Castle Curious after his death. The structure is a local landmark in the area and the site retains the ruins of a mill, in the same ownership and built on the banks of the River Awbeg.