What is recorded here

One castle and a large gabled house stood in Glassely when the Down Survey marked the land in 1655-6, yet no exact corner of that building has survived into modern memory. It may have risen where Glassealy House now sits, casting shadows across fields that have forgotten the shape of its walls. The castle is absent only from human certainty, not from the world, because stone, soil and time keep what witness has dropped.

Shown on the Down Survey (1655-6) as a castle with a large gabled house attached. According to Fitzgerald (1912-14, 84), Glassealy is described in a 1540 extent [survey] of the Earl of Kildare’s forfeited estates in Leinster and Munster: 'There are in the town of Glassheley one Castle (Castrum) or strong-house (fortilagium)... .’ Its precise location is unknown, but it may have stood on the site, or in the vicinity, of the present Glassealy House. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 9 October 2013

Built on lands once held by the Earl of Kildare, Castle Glassely was recorded in a 1540 survey of his forfeited estates, later appearing on the Down Survey as a castle with a large gabled house, indicating its status as a significant regional stronghold in the 16th century.

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