What is recorded here

Highrath Castle is a tower house in County Kilkenny, Ireland, where Peter Shortall was recorded as proprietor in 1640 and Edmund Shortall died seised of its lands in 1602. By 1905 the top storey had been lost, the structure modernized, and a farmer named Ryan called it home. That much is clear; what is less certain is how the tower changed hands, how high it once stood, or whether Ryan still lived there when the account was written.

Indicated on the Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Gowran in ‘Hyrath’ ((Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin) and on the Down Survey parish map of Blackrath and St Martins within ‘Highrath’ (NLI MS720). The terrier accompanying the parish map lists ‘Peter Shortall’ as the proprietor in 1640 (ibid.). According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 365), ‘Edmund Shortall of Highrath died Sept. 4th, 1602, being then seised of the castle and lands of Highrath…Edmund Jackson paid 4s. hearth-money for his house in Heighrath in 1664. The castle of Highrath still stands, but has lost the top storey and been otherwise modernized; it is occupied, as his dwelling house, by a respectable farmer named Ryan’. See attached: KK020-035----_01 extract from Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Gowran (Hib. Reg., courtesy of Trinity College Dublin KK020-035----_02 extract from Down Survey (1655-6) parish map of Blackrath and St Martins (NLI MS720) Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 7 December 2020

Highrath Castle was built in the 17th century, likely by the Butler family, who were prominent landowners in the area. It is remembered as a historic structure associated with the expansion of Anglo-Norman influence in southeastern Ireland.

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