Part 4: Castles and
tower houses c.1500
Chapter
43: Kilnasoolagh Parish
BALLYSALLAGH WEST CASTLE (TOWER HOUSE?) (Site of)
Nat. Grid Ref. R379671; ½” Sheet 17
Photo 1: Foundation stones
of Ballysallagh Castle, to the north-east
| R.C. Parish : | Newmarket-on-Fergus |
| Townland : | Ballysallagh West |
| 6” O.S. Sheet number : | 51 (Co. Clare) |
| Reference : | 10.3 cm North; 24.5 cm West |
| Height (G.L.) : | 45’ O.D. |
| 1” O.S. Sheet number : | 133 (Sixmilebridge) |
For information on this site, known locally as Castlekale refer to: - a) site “plan” b) site description c) above photo.
Site Plan of Ballysallagh West Castle
BALLYSALLAGH WEST CASTLE
This site is not represented on any editions of the O.S. Sheets. However locals know of its site and they brought it to my attention.
As Photo 1 and the site plan show here we have a low rectangular mound defining the site of a probable Tower House. Unfortunately the foundation blocks are not visible over the full rise but only in sections to the north-east and south-east. Over other areas collapse has covered such evidence.
An elderly inhabitant of the area always knew this site in the condition as it exists to date. The fact that Ballysallagh Castle is not represented on any editions of the O.S. Sheets suggests it was levelled prior to the time of the 1839 First Edition O.S. Sheet. However locals did say that old people in the area formerly told that the site was gradually levelled to provide cut building stones for the many, now abandoned, houses that exist locally. This would suggest that the site was finally levelled in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.
There is now no local information as to its former features.
REFERENCES
| Frost, | 1893, page 191. (In this the statement is made that by the College List, 1580 A.D., Ballysallagh Castle was owned by Teige O’Brien, nephew of Donogh O’Brien of Lemeneagh). |
