What is recorded here

Ballylin Castle is a three-storey tower house standing in Galway pastureland, its square stone frame still holding a lobby, guardroom and spiral stair. Ivy smothers the walls and robbed doorways expose the inner chambers, yet the hanging eye on the eastern doorway remains crisp with its three bands of punching. The building is small enough to be grasped at a glance, but its vaulted guardroom and upper landings suggest a household that moved through darkness with confidence.

In rolling pastureland c. 150m to the N of a stream. This almost square tower house (8.6 E-W; 8.3m N-S) survives to a height of three storeys. It is constructed of mortared rough stones with dressed quoinstones, most of the latter have been removed from the four corners at ground-floor level. There is a slight base-batter and a plinth is visible at the base of the S wall. It is heavily overgrown with ivy. Access is gained through a robbed-out doorway in the E wall. A hanging eye on its S side is beautifully dressed with three bands of punching, one vertical and two horizontal. The doorway leads to a small lobby with a partially robbed-out murder-hole overhead. Doorways off the lobby lead to the guardroom to the S and the spiral staircase to the N. Another hanging eye survives on the doorway to the guardroom, the S wall of which has been rebuilt. It is roofed with a flat-arched vault running N-S and wickerwork centring is visible on it. Apart from its N side, the doorway off the lobby to the main ground-floor chamber has been robbed out. This room was lit by windows in the S, W and N walls and there is a fireplace in the N wall. Corbels at each corner indicate the position of the wooden 1st floor. There is a pointed vault, running E-W, between the 1st and 2nd floors. The spiral stairs is robbed out above the ground floor so access to the upper floors is impossible. Doorways off it are visible at 1st and 2nd floor levels. Garderobe exit chutes are visible on the external wall-face at ground-floor level towards the E end of the S wall and W end of the N wall. Windows comprise flat-headed slits and round-headed single lights. A cross-loop light the stairwell between the ground and 1st floors. (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 621) Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 20 August 2021

Ballylin Castle is believed to have been built by the O'Donnell clan in the 16th century as a defensive tower house during a period of clan conflict in western Ireland. Its importance lies in its representation of early modern Irish architecture and the historical presence of the O'Donnells in the region.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.