What is recorded here

Ballymartin castle stood in the castle field on the bounds of Ballinvalla, where Martin Dormer and Joan Purcell lived until 1719. Major Toby Purcell and Alice Tirwhit held it until 1747, after which the stones sank back into the earth. Only small mounds and faint foundation traces remain, hiding a house that three generations breathed life into before forgetting it.

A castle is indicated on the Down Survey (1655-6) map in the townland of Ballymartin. According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 2, 104) Ballymartin castle, ‘stood in the “castle field,” on the bounds of Ballinvalla. Nothing remains of it now save some small mounds and traces of the foundations’. Carrigan (ibid.) states that Martin Dormer and his wife Joan Purcell lived in the castle until their deaths in 1701 and 1719 respectively, and where succeeded by Major Toby or Theobald Purcell, who died in 1747, and his wife Alice Tirwhit who were the last to live in the castle.The castle is not indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map or the 1899 revision. The precise location of the castle within the townland is unknown. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 17 May 2017

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.