What is recorded here

Ballykealy Castle stood as a fortified tower house when John McKeallagh Fitzpatrick controlled it in 1653, before forfeiture stripped his family of the land. Its south and west angles still rise two storeys high from the Laois earth, marking a residence that once demanded obedience and resisted time. The missing chambers do not vanish; they wait for imagination to complete what the stones refused to lose.

References date from 1653, when it was fortified by John McKeallagh Fitzpatrick (Carrigan 1905 vol. 2, 228). The S and W angles of a rubble built tower house (dims. 9.35m NW-SE, c. 7m NE-SW; wall T 1.25m), at least two storeys high, with a possible entrance at SE survive. Featureless. A piece of masonry 15m out from S angle may represent the remains of a bawn wall (LA035-045003-). Described by Carrigan as 'A considerable fragment of Ballykealy castle is still standing. The castle and townland of Ballykealy were forfeited by John mcKeallagh Fitzpatrick, in 1653' (Carrigan 1905 vol. 2, 228). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007

Built by John McKeallagh Fitzpatrick in 1653, Ballykealy Castle is remembered as a fortified tower house reflecting the defensive architecture of 17th-century Ireland.

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