What is recorded here

Kilcoursey’s Gorteen castle vanished completely, leaving only a low stony rise where stone and memory rubbed together. Tully Higgen received it in 1624 with a mill, bog turf and forbidden Irish names, turning a hidden border into a warning about ownership itself. The absence is the shape: a castle that refuses to be seen, saving its rooms for imagination and its fields for rain.

Not visible at ground level. Described in 1977 as 'a wide low stony rise, with rock outcrop marks the site of the castle. There are no visible remains of wall footings and there are no earthworks associated with the site' (ASI file 1977). The 17th centuryDown Survey map of Kilcoursey barony shows a small castle at Tobber [Tubber] and a small church in Gorteen. Early 17th centurymap of Fox's country shows a castle in Gorteen that is the adjoining townland to the village of Tubber (Loeber 1988, vol. 3, 51-2). In 1624 the commissioners appointed by the English Crown for the plantation of Kings County granted Tully Higgen [Higgins] the 'castle, town and lands of Gurtyn…the right of turbary in the bog and moors of Tobber…1 water mill, with the course and 2a in the lands of Balanmentan [Ballinaminton]…to Dainel Higgen brother to the said Tully, his heirs and assignes, stem free and toll free of all corn at the mill of Bealanamentan' (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., 21 Jas I, lxxix, 563). A clause in the grant stated that the grantee could 'not to assume the name, stile or title of O'Rourke, O'Molloy, the Fox, McCoghlane, or O'Doyne, or to give or to receive any rent or taxes or services, or divide their land according to the Irish custom of Gavelkind, upon penalty of forfeiture' (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., 21 Jas. I, lxxix, 563). There are no surface remains visible of this castle. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 23 May 2011

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.