What is recorded here

Castle walls and a bawn stood in Gormanstown when Thomas Butler held the land in 1640, but that whole structure has vanished from Ballyhist, Garryroe and Gormanstown. It is not that the castle is hidden behind hedgerows or buried under fields; it is absent from the place entirely. The landscape keeps no shape, mark or memory that can be pointed to. What remained was a name in a survey, not a building in the world.

According to the Civil Survey (1654-6) in 'Gormanstowne' in 1640, 'Upon the sd lands stands the walls of a Castle with a Bawne about it' under the proprietorship of 'Thomas Butler of Gormanstowne Gent. Irish Papist' (Simington 1931, vol. 1, 336). This castle and bawn (TS087-035002-) are unlocated within the three townlands of Ballyhist, Garryroe and Gormanstown. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 26 August 2011

Thomas Butler, an Irish Papist gentleman, held the castle site in Gormanstowne in 1640. It is remembered as a historical landholding associated with the Butler family, a prominent Irish Catholic lineage during the 17th century.

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