ASKEATON, or HINNESKESTI, Limerick.--Built in 1199, probably by Hamo de Valoignes.[1061] An excellent instance of a motte-and-bailey castle, where the motte is of natural rock. The splendid keep and hall are of the 15th century, but there are two older towers, which might date from 1199. This natural motte has been identified with the ancient Irish fort of Gephthine (Askeaton = Eas Gephthine), mentioned in the _Book of Rights_. But this work does not mention any _fort_ at Gephthine, only the place, in a list which is clearly one of lands (perhaps mensal lands), not of forts, as it contains many names of plains, and of tribes, as well as the three isles of Arran.[1062]
*ASKELON, or ESCLUEN (_Cal._, i., 91).--Castle _restored to_ Richard de Burgh in 1215; the site is placed by Mr Orpen at Carrigogunell, which is in the parish of Kilkeedy, Limerick.[1063] Carrigogunell has the ruins of a castle on a natural motte of rock.
*ATHLONE, Roscommon (_Cal._, i., 80).--Built in 1210 by the Justiciar, John de Gray. The keep is placed on a lofty motte, which has been revetted with masonry. Turlough O'Connor built a _caislen_ at Athlone in 1129, but it was not even on the site of the Norman castle, for which John obtained land from the church, as already stated.
BAGINBUN (_Gir._, i., 13; _Song_, 1406).--Mr Orpen has proved that this was the spot where Raymond le Gros landed and entrenched himself for four months.[1064] It is a headland on the sea-coast, and headland castles seldom have mottes, as they were not needed on a promontory washed on three sides by the sea. Moreover, Baginbun was of the nature of a temporary fort rather than a residential castle, and it is to be noted that Giraldus calls it "a poor sort of a castle of stakes and sods." Still, the small inner area, ditched off with a double ditch, and the large area, also ditched, roughly correspond to the motte-and-bailey plan. [B. T. S.]
BALIMORE EUSTACE, Kildare (_Cal._, i., 28).--A castle of the Archbishop of Dublin. A motte, with a remarkable platform attached to one side (_cf._ Wigmore Castle). No bailey now; no stone castle. [B. T. S.]
CAHERCONLISH (Karkinlis, Kakaulis, _Cal._, i., 81).--Castle of Theobald Fitz Walter. There is nothing left above ground but a chimney of late date. A few yards from it is a hillock, which has very much the appearance of a mutilated motte. [E. S. A.] Mr Orpen, however, thinks that Theobald's castle may have been at Knockatancashlane, "the hill of the old castle," a townland a little to the north of Caherconlish.[1065]