Castle

Cloncullen Castle mentioned as a castle in 'Clunicully' in the terrier of the 1655 Down Survey map of Farbill barony (NLI MS 723-4). The castle is depicted as a tower house type structure on the 1655 Down Survey barony map where it is shown standing on lands belonging in 1640 to Sir Luke Fitzgerald (ibid.). Situated on a rise, in gently undulating pasture, 60m N of townland boundary in area of recent forestry plantation. Depicted on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as a rectangular-shaped structure. Not depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map. Castle site of c. 50m to NW of the location shown on the 1837 OS map. Monument described in 1983 as an irregular-shaped stony mound consisting of large chunks of masonry. The size and nature of the structure cannot be determined from the visible remains. No decorative or worked stone visible. A building (WM020-107001-) is located to the W and earthworks extend to S and W of the castle ruins. Traces of a roughly rectangular-shaped cropmark are visible on Digital Globe aerial photography. Compiled by Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien. Date of upload: 08 July 2019

Cloncullen Castle was likely built in the 15th or 16th century by an Irish Gaelic family, possibly the MacGiolla Phádraig (O'Hehirys), who held lands in the area. It is remembered as a surviving example of a tower house in a region with significant early medieval and Gaelic heritage.