What is recorded here

Castle may never have stood at Ballyharty, yet the name still points to a house strong enough to be remembered. The FitzNichols held the land through Patrick, John and Patrick again, losing acres, gaining transplantation and ending in a Kilmore grave before Rowe took it. What is certain is not stone but continuity: one family kept a place alive through law, survey and conquest until the name itself became the castle.

Ballyharty was held by the FitzNichols, who were probably an off-shoot of the Fitzhenrys. Patrick FitzNicholl had 120 acres at Ballyharty when he died in 1566, and his son John had this land when he died in 1630 (Jeffrey 1979, 55). John FitzNicoll was a juror in 1600 (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 558) and his son Patrick had 140 acres at Ballyharty, 60 at Knocknoran and 30 at Ballebourne, now called Newtown, in 1640, according to the Civil Survey (1654-6) (Simington 1953, 134), although a castle is not mentioned. Patrick FitzNicholas received 80 acres under the Cromwellian settlement and was listed for transplantation with 15 dependents in 1653 (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 502-4), but but he died in 1659 and was buried in Kilmore graveyard (WX052-002002-) where his graveslab (WX052-002005-) was discovered in 1949 (Ranson 1949). Ballyharty was granted to Richard Rowe, and the Rowe family continued to hold it into the 19th century (Jeffrey 1979, 55). It is not certain that there was a castle at Ballyharty and there is no visible evidence of one. (Kehoe 1984-5, 27) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 11 October, 2013 Amended: 18 February, 2014

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