What is recorded here

Athleague means the ford, and the castle stood where the River Suck bends west because control of that crossing mattered more than stone. Kelly and Burke hands seized, lost and returned it through the late fifteenth century, while later leaseholders held a name after the building had ceased to exist. Water, ambition and forgetting have done the rest.

On the E bank of a NE-SW section of the River Suck, at a point where it turns W. An O'Kelly castle, probably a tower house, was extant here in the late 15th century (O'Donovan 1843, 109-11) at what must have been a fording point (RO041-048006-) as the name suggests. What is described as a bawn (RO041-084002-) at Athliag Maenagan in Hy Many was destroyed by Ulick Mac William Burke in 1487 (AFM vol. 4, 1153). In 1499 the castle, of which nothing remains, was captured by Garrett Mór Fitzgeald, who was the Justiciar and Earl of Kildare, and recaptured by William Burke, who returned it to the sons of William Kelly (ibid., 1251-3). By the 1570s Sir Thomas le Strange was leasing it from the Queen, which a ward of his still held in 1596, although the castle was destroyed by then (Cronin 1980, 110,117). In 1640 Athleague was owned by the earl of Clanrickard (Simington 1949, 103), and one of the earls probably built the fortified house (RO041-048005-) on the site before then. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 24 August 2010

Built by the O'Kellys, Castle Athleague was a tower house standing on the River Suck by the late 15th century, strategically positioned at a key ford. It is remembered as part of the local Gaelic lordship's defensive and administrative network in the region.

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.