Castle

On the SE shore of Lickeen Lough, on a low-lying N-facing wooded slope in poorly drained marshy pasture. Ballagh Castle was in the possession of Teige McMurrough O’Brien in 1574 but by 1639 it had fallen into disrepair. Its site was pointed out by a local person (Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997). No visible surface trace of it survives and only intermittent traces of the walls of the rectangular building, named Ballagh House on the 1840 edition of the OS 6-inch map, are visible; they have been incorporated into field boundaries and stand out as more regularly built sections of walling. Ua Cróinín and Breen (ibid.) noted that a number of dressed limestone blocks visible in the vicinity and reused in the nearby farmhouse may have come from it. See attached document with details from Risteárd Ua Cróinín and Martin Breen, The Castles and Tower-houses of Co. Clare (unpublished report). Uploaded courtesy of R. Ua Cróinín and M. Breen. Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Lynda McCormack Date of upload: 6 May 2022

Built by the O'Brien family, likely in the 15th or early 16th century, Ballagh Castle was held by Teige McMurrough O’Brien in 1574, reflecting the continued influence of the MacMurrough Kavanagh branch of the O’Briens in the area during the late medieval period. Its decline by 1639 illustrates the broader pattern of decay among Irish lordly residences following English colonial pressures.