Castle — Castleforbes Demesne

On low-lying ground adjacent to the E shore of Lough Forbes. Depicted as a castellated tower on an early 17th-century map of Longford barony (BL, Cotton MS Augustus I.ii.24) and on the Down Survey (1655–6) map of Clongish parish (NLI, MS 719) as a low two-storey central block with gable-fronted towers at either end. A doorway at ground-floor level is centrally placed and there are two windows above it at first-floor level. One of the gable-fronted towers has windows on the ground and first-floor levels and is surmounted by a tall chimney stack which rises high above the roofline. Described in 1978 (SMR file) as a low irregular mound of stone and earth (c. 52m N–S; c. 24m E–W) that was delimited on the E by a low scarp; some stone, possibly wall-footing, was visible in its make-up from E–S. A disturbed subrectilinear area noted in the interior was open to the N and S but bounded on E and W by a broad irregular bank of stone and earth. It was covered with depressions and hummocks and although a fair amount of stone was visible on the surface it was not possible to trace any structures. Some large stones lying to the N appeared to have been dumped there. This may have been a medieval castle that was incorporated into a late 16th/early 17th-century house or it may date entirely from the later period. Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan, Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 3 October 2012