Ballinkeel Castle (in ruins)

Marked as a structure described as Ballinkeel Castle in the 1839 and 1940 eds. of the OS 6-inch map and situated on a rise in a low-lying landscape. John O’Donovan writing c. 1840 says there was an old castle of the Hays family at Ballinkeel (O’Flanagan 1933, vol. 1, 356), and he is probably the origin of the mis-classification of what is a folly or gazebo on the grounds of Ballinkeel House, which was adapted later as a dove-cote. According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) William Kennay, a Protestant, owned 300 acres in Ballinkeile in 1641, but there is no record of a castle (Simington 1953, 65). The Hays family acquired the land in the18th century but there are no other references to a castle (Hore 1990-11, vol. 6, 590; Jeffrey 1979, 180-1). The structure is a square tower (ext. dims. 5.35m x 5.35m; H c. 7m) with mortared shale walls (T 0.85m). There is a lintelled doorway (Wth 1.2m; H 2m) in the S wall but the inner face of the walls is occupied by niches for doves. Externally at the first floor there are large pointed windows (Wth c. 1m; H c. 2m), now blocked up, in each wall. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 11 July, 2012

Ballinkeel Castle was built by the Hay family, an influential Norman-descended Gaelicized clan in the region, and is believed to date to the late medieval period. It is remembered as a historical landmark associated with local power structures and is noted in early 19th-century maps and writings by John O’Donovan.