What is recorded here

Billistown Castle still stands as a ruined tower on a low platform in County Westmeath, though the bawn that once ringed it has largely vanished beneath reclaimed grass. In 1641 James White held the lands of Ballistowne, suggesting a busy household and defended estate rather than a lonely outpost. The bawn may have been a working boundary for farms, storage and service buildings, but erosion and field recovery have removed most of its shape. What remains is a subtle rectangular scar and faint banks, enough to hint that the castle was once the centre of a larger inhabited place.

The terrier of the 1655 Down Survey map of Castletown parish recorded that in 1641 the lands of 'Ballistowne' were in the possession of James White (NLI MS 723-4). Ruins of Billistown Castle (WM013-031----) standing on a low sub-rectangular shaped platform in reclaimed grassland. Possible outline of destroyed bawn visible as a low rectangular-shaped area defined by a low scarp. The outline of this earthwork is visible on digital globe aerial photograph taken November 2011. At the N corner of this platform there is a slightly raised area which may mark the site of a small structure. A number of wide low earthworks extend in all directions from the tower house. Low rises of ground to the S & SW may mark the site of a bawn although this is by no means certain. These low banks are no longer visible in the field which appears to have been reclaimed. Compiled by: Frank Coyne and Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 4 April 2018

James White held the lands of Billistown in 1641, and the ruins of Billistown Castle date from this period. The site is important as a historical marker of land ownership in Castletown parish during the 17th century.

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