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Site Description
This is a very small but tall and unusual-looking tower house at the top of the Lin Gorge, guarding the southern entrance to the grounds of Paladrian Castle. It is only 30 by 34 feet appx. but over 100 feet tall. The most characteristic feature is the three pyramidal towers, or 'spikes', symbolically referring to the trifold wrath of the Mother Goddess Lott [Lough't]. (The large one over the stair turret had rotted away by 1923, as the main support was timber, with stone cladding, so it and the other two spires were reconstructed with steel girder supports.) As the tower is on the north flank of Mt. Teribus, the highest peak along the Lin Gorge, it lours over Almondsey across the river. There is a very small barmkin, or courtyard, with buildings for servants, on the southern side of the tower house. Farther down the slope is one of the few hamlets in the Lin Gorge, Snill, which houses several of the Paladrian Estate workers. (There is a pub, of course, the first house on the left.)
Although often used by the Archdukes as a retreat, the layout is very stark, consisting of one main room per floor, with several mural chambers. However, the dining room and sitting room are richly decorated and furnished, with linen-fold oak panelling in the drawing room. Accommodation is sparse -- two guards and a couple of servants (the large fourth-floor bedroom is the lord's private chamber, also oak-panelled, the one above, the castellan's, under which is a low 'hidden' area for storing who knows what, with access from below by a trap door). The watch rooms are also fitted out with bunk beds, as is the caphouse.
Construction is very sturdy, with thick ashlar walls and four stone vaults. Apart from the 'spikes' there is very little embellishment to the building. And the defensive arrangements are minimal. The original dating of the tower is problematical, but it is assumed that it was built in the mid-1600s when a lot of time and money was being spent on Paladrian Castle.
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