
What is recorded here
Nangor castle in County Dublin, Ireland, was a real home for Ffinian Bassenett in 1532, but human greed and forgetfulness have erased its walls. The castle was absorbed into a later mansion, then demolished completely, leaving flat terrain and no visible trace. What remains is a ghost in the ground: a lost address, a broken line of ownership, and a warning that even strong stone can vanish when people stop remembering it.
Located in flat terrain. Named 'Nangor castle' on the 1837 edition OS 6-inch map and 'Nangor castle on site of castle' in the later edition. This indicates that the castle had been incorporated into an 19th-century mansion. All buildings on the site have been recently demolished leaving no surface trace of the earlier building. In 1532 Ffinian Bassenett was residing at Nangor (Ball 1906, 112; Healy 1974, 22; D'Alton 1976, 345 (2nd ed.). There are earthworks in the field to the south of the castle. Pre-development testing in the vicinity of the castle in 1996 produced evidence for a substantial ditch and an associated shallower linear feature of uncertain date. Trial-trenching in the field bounding the castle site to its south uncovered several lignite cores and slivers, early medieval pottery and metal slag suggesting a date in at least the early medieval period- twelfth/thirteenth century. Several trenches cut through a large ditch located on both the east and west of the field. Human skeletal remains were also uncovered, as were numerous charcoal-flecked irregular features (McConway 1997, 17).
Compiled by: Geraldine Stout
Date of upload: 26 August 2011
Nangor Castle was built in the medieval period, likely by a local Gaelic lord or Anglo-Norman settler, and was later incorporated into a 19th-century mansion. Its importance lies in its historical evolution from a defensive structure to a civilian residence, reflecting changing land use and social structures in the region.
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
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