What is recorded here

Coolyhenan Castle vanished before records finished naming it, leaving Bourke and Rickard lines to argue over ghost acres while clay and memory competed for the same ground. What survived is a sequence of possessions rather than a shape, which suggests the castle was never built to be seen but to be inherited.

The precise location of a castle in the townland of Coolyhenan (Cúil Uí Sheighneáin) has not been identified. Westropp (1906-07, 87) recorded the following details about Coolyhenan; '1540 The man of Cúil I. Sheighinéin was Geffry, son of Rickard of the Sliocht Riockard (Rental). 1583 W. Bourke, Collehynon (Des. R., 37). 1595 Ullick Bourke died in possession of it and Kilpatrick. His son Ric. succeeded, and held it in 1637 and in 1655, with W. Bourke (Inq. Chan. Car. I., 2, 186, C.S., xxix., p. 11). 1663 Part was granted to Col. Randall Clayton, and the "Seven Stangs" to the Duke- of York. The latter portion and Kilpatrick were held by K. Haly (Inq. Chan. Car. II., 4b. and Act Sett.). 1703 Kilkevane alias Cullyhenan, called the Seven Stangs, sold to T. Carter'. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 1 December 2020

Coolyhenan House was likely held by the Ó Sheighneáin (O'Shea) family in the 16th century. It is remembered as an example of early modern Irish territorial holdings in a period of shifting power and conflict.

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