Castle — Coolalough

A castle stands on top of a small knoll, 240m SSE of Coolalough House, in undulating pasture, with extensive views of the surrounding landscape. Traces of a bawn (WM037-002001-) are visible enclosing the castle. Modern farm complex lies c. 50m to NE. Castle depicted on the first ed. OS 6-inch map as a rectangular-shaped building orientated WNW-ESE. Post-1700 limekiln 100m to E as shown on 1910 ed. OS 25-inch map. The ruins of Coolalough House were described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage [NIAH] as following; 'John Wesley preached to large congregations at Coolalough on a number of occasions. Wesley records in his letters in 1785 that the Handy Family had recently built a new property at Coolalough, apparently (re)named Bracca Castle, and it is likely that the outbuildings date to this time or shortly afterwards' (NIAH Reg. No. 15403708). Castle ruins described in 1979 as the remains of a tower house defined by upstanding sections of the W and N walls (approx. H 7m) with traces of low footings of the E and S walls (max. H 0.5m). The walls are built of undressed stones laid roughly in courses with a narrow loop in the lower W wall and a large gap above which probably represents a broken out window. There is no trace of any dressed stone. Castle is visible today as a rectangular-shaped ruin covered in vegetation on Digital Globe aerial photography. Compiled by Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien. Date of upload: 28 November 2019