English: Coolamber Hall-House is Anglo-Norman in date and can be assigned to the early 13th century. Hall-houses consist of two-storey buildings with the entrance doorway on the first floor. The entrance was accessed via an external staircase of wood or stone. The main feature of the building was the large first floor hall which was open up to the roof. The ground floor was accessed via a trapdoor or internal staircase and was probably used as a storage area. Many hall-houses like that at Coolamber have been rebuilt or altered considerably.

Summary

Coolamber Hall-house consists of a two-storey structure with hour-storey adjoining service tower added-on. It is located on a circular platform c. 4m high and 40m in diameter. A late-medieval church is situated c 400m to the north-west. The platform is enclosed by the remains of a 1.60m thick and .35m high bawn wall that was built in straight sections. There is a small, rectangular, projecting mural tower on the south-west side with an original 3m wide ramped entrance through the south-east side. The condition of the site makes it difficult to determine whether the bawn and mural tower are contemporary with the hall-house and service tower. The hall-house has the remains of a barrel-vault at its northern end at ground floor level. The south end is grass-covered and possibly covers two other barrel-vaults. A doorway in the north-east corner gives access to the tower. A relieving arch, located directly above the barrel-vault of te hall suggests that the service tower may be a later addition to the hall.

Directions

From Edgeworthstown take the N55 towards Granard. After 400m take a right turn onto the R395 towards Castlepollard. The takes a sharp right after 7km and 3km further on Lismacaffry Village is reached. Take the right turn at the crossroads in the village and after 1km take the first right. Pass a small cemetery before reaching the hall-house. Park sensibly. On Private Property.