Add your own picture and explain the route, parking, gates, paths or landmarks that help people find it.
Earn 5 points after the picture is checked and accepted.
Add your photo and local directionsShare what you foundWhat is recorded here
In 1488 the Annals of the Four Masters recorded that the Earl of Kildare demolished the castle of Bile-ratha (Balrath) upon the sons of Murtough Mageoghegan, after having brought ordnance to it’ (O’Donovan 1856, 1165). In 1604, King James I granted William Taaffe the ‘castle of Belraha and 1 cartron, rent 2s 6d., Ir. parcel of the estate of James McRosse McGeoghegan, late of Belraha, outlawed’ (Griffith 1966, 2). This Mac Geoghegan castle was described in 1977, as Balrath [Belraha] Castle which consists of the remains of a long narrow rectangular stone-built building aligned N-S with a roughly D-shaped enclosure (WM032-103002-) adjoining the E side. This building along with the adjoining enclosure to the E of the castle is depicted on the first edition of the OS 6-inch map. The enclosure acts as the earthen enclosure of a bailey or courtyard area located to the E of the castle. A modern silage pit has been built just outside the external face of the W wall of the castle. Only the W wall (int. L. c. 16m; wall T 1m; H c. 10m), its S gable (H. c. 10m; wall T 1m) and SE corner of the castle survives upstanding. The castle walls are built with large undressed rubble some of which is very large. The structure appears to have been a long narrow building aligned N-S as depicted on the first edition of the OS 6-inch map. The N end of the W wall is obscured by a modern field bank and fence. There is evidence for an internal partition wall (T 0.55m) running E-W running parallel to the S gable which is only 0.6m to the S. The purpose of this wall is unclear but it may have been part of a garderobe structure as there is evidence for the upper part of a chute or shaft located in the SW angle of this partition wall. A second transverse wall running E-W from W wall can be seen to the N of the first partition wall. The lateral W wall of the castle is in a very ruinous condition and there is a large gap in the wall between the two partition walls. There are two rectangular opes visible in the W wall, the first one is located just to the N of the first partition wall and the second is located just N of the second partition wall. The area to the W of the castle is very disturbed and is used as a farmyard.
Compiled by: Caimin O’Brien
Date of upload: 28 March 2013
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.