What is recorded here

Castle (in ruins), Ballyconnell is a broken tower house in flat Galway pastureland, still belonging to Mac Creamon in 1574. Its remaining walls rise barely above the first floor, preserving a spiral stair, narrow loops and a garderobe chute that once served a small defiant household. The hills to the west still watch the place where stone, timber and human pride collided.

In flat pastureland overlooked by hills to the W. In existence in 1574 when it was in the possession of Mac Creamon (Nolan 1901, 114). All that survives of this tower house are the SE wall (L 10.45m) and the returns of the NE (L 2.3m) and SW (L 4.25m; wall T 1.66m) walls, which stand to just above the 1st floor level. The remains of a broken spiral staircase are evident in the E corner, suggesting that the doorway was located in the NE wall. A broken internal wall separates the stairwell from the main ground-floor chamber. The only surviving architectural features include a narrow loop lighting the stairwell, another narrow loop set within a deep embrasure in the SE wall of the chamber and E side of another embrasure the SW wall. A corbel in the S corner indicates that the 1st floor was wooden. Externally a garderobe exit chute is visible towards the S end of the SE wall. The tower house lies within the S half of a bawn (GA123-015002-). Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 18 August 2021

Built or held by the Mac Creamon family in the late 16th century, Castle Ballyconnell is remembered as a historical site linked to local Gaelic lineage during the period of English expansion in Ireland. Its remains provide insight into early tower house architecture in the region.

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