Bellevue

The Knight’s Hospitaller’s manor of Balischauc, dating from at least 1212, can be traced convincingly through various name-changes – Ballycaock, Ballicauke, Baliscaoke, Ballikeiocke – to Ballyhoge, a parish in Bantry and Shelmaliere baronies, although it was no longer held by them at the Suppression 1540-1 (Colfer 2002, 202-05). A castle was established probably by the 16th century, and in 1641 Dudley Colclough had recently acquired 440 acres and the ruined castle at Ballykeoge in Shelmaliere (Simington 1953, 101, 122). A castle is marked on the Down Survey map (1655-6) at Ballyhoge. The property subsequently passed through the Saunders, Hore, and Ogle families. The name was changed to Bellevue in the later 18th century, and the house was burned and razed to the ground in January 1923 (Doyle 2000, 106), the only part surviving being the private Catholic chapel built by its last owners, the Cliffe family, in 1858-60. According to (Jeffrey 1979, 101-2) some notes of H. F. Hore made in 1838-9 record that a tower in Bellevue House was from the medieval castle, but no trace of it survives. Archaeological testing (18E0087) immediately to the S produced no related material (McLoughlin 2018; excavations.ie 2018:062). See the attached section from the Down Survey (1656-8) parish map (N at right) reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland (Ms 725) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 12 August, 2012 Amended: 26 October 2018

The castle at Ballyhoge was held by the Knight’s Hospitallers from at least the early 13th century. It is remembered as part of the Hospitallers' extensive network of properties in Ireland, reflecting their role in both religious and military affairs during the medieval period.