What is recorded here

Taylor’s 1783 map places the ruined castle on the north edge of a quarry now visible in aerial photographs, yet no surface trace remains for anyone to touch or enter. It appeared in the Down Survey of 1655-6, vanished from Noble and Keenan’s 1752 map and every later official survey, and resurfaced only as a ghost mark on Taylor’s line. The castle may have been quarried to nothing before Taylor drew it, or Taylor may have copied an older memory rather than seeing stone. Either way, Walshestown keeps a building that refusal to show on later maps has made even stranger.

Shown on the Down Survey map (1655-6), and marked 'in ruins' on Taylor's map of County Kildare (1783), but not shown on Noble and Keenan's map of the county (1752) or on any edition of the OS mapping. Taylor's map of 1783 shows a structure in ruins standing on the N edge of what appears to be a quarry which is today visible on aerial photographs. No visible surface traces of any castle are visible in this area on the aerial photographs. The precise location of this castle has not been identified. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 17 June 2016

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