What is recorded here

Donclone castle held James I's 1619 grant for William Mc Brian Murtagh, tying royal favour to a particular Longford household. It may have lived inside Mosstown House as a tower-like backing presence rather than disappearing entirely. The 1962 destruction of that house removed the last visible address of the castle, leaving Donclone preserved only through the claims and shapes recorded around it.

A castle is depicted on an early 17th-century map of Moydow barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.ii.28) in the townland of ‘Dowclone’, which roughly corresponds to Mosstown demesne. In 1619 King James I granted William Mc Brian Murtagh ‘the castle and town or cartron of Donclone’ (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 450). The castle is listed again, in 1636, in the inquisition into the property of William following his death. He also possessed another ‘ruinous castle’ (LF018-006001-) in Ballyknock (Anon. 1826, Inq. 17 Car 1). Bence-Jones (1990, 211) refers to a ‘Tower-like building’ at the back of Mosstown House (LF022-052001-), which suggests the possibility that the castle was incorporated into the later house. However, the house was destroyed in 1962 and no visible surface traces of it or the castle survive. (Lewis 1837, vol. 2, 65) Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 5 November 2012

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.