What is recorded here

Garryellen Castle vanished into a dotted outline, leaving only a heap of small boulders where an eighteen-metre square tower and broad court wall once stood. J. Lysaght held the land in 1655, Lord Kingston received it in 1667, and the walls became completely defaced before 1840. The castle may have been Cashelmongan itself, but even that name has blurred into the plain.

Site of Garryellen Castle (LI022-087----) and bawn described by Westropp (1906-7, 177) as following; 'Site marked near Cashelmongan. Probably last-named C[astle]. 1655 The land held by J. Lysaght (C.S., p. 19). 1667 Granted to Lord Kingston'. Castle and bawn site described in 1942-3 as following; 'A heap of fairly small boulders is all that now remains of this castle. O'Donovan says that its ruins were 60' [18m] square and that it was surrounded by a court wall 130' [40m] by 160' [49m]' (O'Kelly 1942-3, 222). In 1840 the castle site and bawn was described as; 'The ruins of this old castle are insignificant. The castle was about 60 feet [18m] square, and was surrounded by a Court wall about 130 feet [40m] by 160 feet [49m]; but the walls are completely defaced' (OSNB Fedamore Parish). No castle is depicted in the townland of Garryellen on the 1654-7 Down Survey maps (NLI, Ms 718) and is not mentioned in the 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick (Simington 1938, 107). No surface remains visible today of castle site on Digital Globe aerial photographs. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 2 March 2020

Garryellen Castle was likely held by the Lysaght family in the mid-17th century, with John Lysaght recorded as holding the land in 1655. The site is remembered as part of the historical landscape of castle and bawn structures in the region, reflecting early modern landholding patterns.

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