What is recorded here

Castle Balreask stands as a grassy rectangle in County Meath, its low banks and surrounding fosse preserving the outline of a stone house once owned by Sir Edward Bolton. The structure lost its roof long before surveyors marked it, yet the earth still holds the shape of a residence that may have welcomed guests or withheld them behind heavy doors. Time has stripped the castle to a shadow on the ground, waiting for someone to imagine the life that disappeared inside its boundaries.

A roofless structure is depicted at Ballrisken on the Down Survey (1656-8) barony map of Deece (http://downsurvey.tcd.ie/). According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) Sir Edward Bolton owned 140 acres there in 1640 and on the premises was ‘a stone house’ (Simington 1940, 136). It is described as a ‘Castle’ on the 1836 and 1908 eds of the OS 6-inch map but with no precise location. This is a rectangular, grass-covered area (22m ENE-WSW, 14m NNW-SSE) defined by low banks (Wth c. 5m; int. H 0.3m; ext. H 0.6m) with a fosse (Wth c. 5m) running past the N edge of the area. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Meath' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1987). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 9 June 2016

Sir Edward Bolton held land at Ballrisken, including a castle, in the 1640s. The site is remembered through 17th-century surveys that document land ownership during the turbulent period of Confederate Ireland.

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