What is recorded here

Annagh Castle stands on a hillock in Moylagh parish, County Meath, where grass now swallows a twenty-metre oblong structure and a wide enclosed yard. It appeared on parish maps before barony records, suggesting local people knew the shape before distant surveyors cared. Robert Nugent owned nearby land in the mid-seventeenth century, yet the castle belonged elsewhere, reminding us that ownership and memory often trace different lines.

A castle at Annagh (43) in Moylagh parish is not depicted on the Down Survey (1656-8) barony map of Fore but is on the parish map (http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/). According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) Robert Nugent of Portluman, Co. Westmeath, owned almost a hundred acres there in 1640 but the castle was not on that property (Simington 1940, 267). It is depicted as an oblong building (dims c. 20m NW-SE; c. 10m NE-SW) with a projection at the N end of the W side on the 1836 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. The castle is located on top of a hillock. The grass-covered remains of a building (dims c. 20m NW-SE; W c. 7m NE-SW) survive with a subrecatngular enclosure (dims c. 40m NW-SE; c. 38m NE-SW) defined by grass-covered banks or scarps (at SW: Wth 6m; H 1.4m) is attached to the W. The deserted settlement (ME014-027001-) is located c. 40m to the S. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 8 June 2016 Amended: 15 December 2022

Annagh Castle was held by Robert Nugent in the mid-17th century, as recorded in the Civil Survey of 1654–56. Its inclusion in historical land surveys highlights its local significance during the turbulent period of Confederate Ireland and Cromwellian conquest.

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