Bawn in Ballykealy — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Ballykealy stands as a ruined bawn in County Laois, marked by the south and west angles of a two-storey rubble tower and a distant fragment of wall. John McKeallagh Fitzpatrick fortified the place in 1653 before losing it, suggesting a violent shift rather than a gentle fade. The surviving stones preserve the shape of that loss, waiting for a person to imagine the doors, lights and arguments that once filled the room.

References date from 1653, when it was fortified by John McKeallagh Fitzpatrick (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 228). The S and W angles of a rubble built tower house (LA035-045001-), at least two storeys high, with a possible entrance at SE survive. Featureless. A piece of masonry 15m out from S angle may represent the remains of a bawn wall (LA035-045003-). Described by Carrigan as 'A considerable fragment of Ballykealy castle is still standing. The castle and townland of Ballykealy were forfeited by John mcKeallagh Fitzpatrick, in 1653' (Carrigan 1905, vol. 2, 228). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 December 2007

Built by John McKeallagh Fitzpatrick in 1653, Bawn in Ballykealy is remembered as a fortified tower house reflecting the defensive needs of the period during the turbulent aftermath of the Irish Confederate Wars.

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