What is recorded here

Ballydrehid Castle vanished before human memory, leaving only a broken stone quoin and a house built beside its ghost. The Suir and Aherlow rivers still meet below the yard where the tower stood, carrying water past a place that no longer shows its own shape.

On a natural rise overlooking the Suir river valley there is a castle depicted on the 17th-century Down Survey map (1655-8) which is referred to as 'the old brocken Castle of Bealladrohid' in the Civil Survey (1654-6) (Simington 1931, vol.1, 15). An early 18th-century house 'Ballydrehid House' (TS075-027003-) stands in the vicinty of the former castle. The river mets up with the Aherlow River immediately below the house and there is a steep drop to the river bank to the NE. Knockgraffon motte (TS075-019001-) is visible on the hill opposite the river c. 1.3km to the NE. A large mound (TS075-025----) on the river plain is visible c. 500m to the NNE. There is no visible trace of the castle above ground. However, a worked block of stone with horizontal tooling in margins and internal pock tooling is currently re-used as a quoin on an outbuilding adjacent to the gate pier at the main entrance. This is likely to have come from a tower house. Though the tower house was located in the vicinity of Ballydrehid House, its precise location is unknown. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 07 July 2014

The castle at Ballydrehid was likely built in the 15th or 16th century, possibly by an Irish Gaelic family or a local Anglo-Norman lord, and is remembered for its strategic position overlooking the Suir river valley, as well as its depiction in early land surveys.

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.