Ballyloughan Castle

South-east of Bagenalstown stands the remains of 13^th century Ballyloughan Castle. The rectangular interior court is surrounded by the curtain wall and a double-towered gatehouse in the centre of the south wall. In 1835 it was noted that 14 stone steps led from the ground floor to the first floor, with the remains of 2 stone steps leading to the second floor. Both towers have a machicolation over the entrance, on the second floor level. In 1941, H.G. Leask noted that some of the stones used to build the gatehouses, were probably from a church. Leask described the stones as having a 12^th century Hiberno-Romanesque moulding.

In 1955 a section of the site was excavated. The findings were a quantity of potsherds dated to the 13^th and 14^th centuries. One sherd was described as a small rim-sherd of fine white-paste ware that was manufactured in western France in the 13^th century.

The early history of Ballyloughan Castle is long forgotten but it is known that this territory was granted by Diarmuid McMurrough to his son-in-law Richard de Clare (aka Strongbow). De Clare’s daughter Isabel was contracted to marry William Marshal, by Henry II and Richard the Lionheart. By 1307 the Kavanaghs were granted this area by the Earl and Countess of Norfolk. Bryan Mac Donagh Kavanagh was at Ballyloughan in 1603 as he was granted the land by James I, a pension for the warders of the castle. The area was granted to George Bagnell in 1611, with the Kavanagh’s remaining at Ballyloughan until 1641. Under the Act of Settlement (1661-1676), John Beauchamp was granted the land of Ballyloughan. By the mid-18^th century Beauchamp Bagenal acquired the lands of Ballyloughan and sold them to Col. Henry Bruen in the 19^th century. The excavations of 1955 revealed that by the 18^th century the north-east tower was converted into a small cottage or shed and subsequently abandoned by the end of the 18^th century.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014