Site of Castle — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Castlekelly takes its name from Caisleán Uí Cheallaigh, a castle whose stones have vanished but whose shadow still shapes the land. The 1839 survey marked a small rectangular site near an enclosure, while a later aerial photo revealed two parallel ditches running beside it like a forgotten road. Whether those ditches served the castle or the neighbouring field, they suggest a place where people still moved with purpose long after the walls disappeared.

The OS Letters (1839) note that, ‘In the Townland of Castlekelly in this Parish is pointed out the site of a castle called Caisleán Uí Cheallaigh, from which the Townland took its name’ (O’Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 19 (7)). The castle is not indicated on the Down Survey (1655-6) barony map of Gowran or on the parish map of Upper Grange (Hibernia Regnum, courtesy of Trinity College Dublin). On the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map the ‘Site of Castle’ is indicated as being within a rectangular area (c. 38m NW-SE; c. 17m NE-SW), located c. 40m NE of an enclosure (KK021-018----). An aerial photograph (CUCAP ASW033, 17 July 1967) shows a cropmark of two parallel fosses, possibly a roadway (KK021-019002-), running roughly NW-SW for c. 50m S of the castle, and these may be associated with the castle or with the adjacent enclosure. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 20 April 2021

Built by the Ó Ceallaigh (O'Kelly) family, Castlekelly is remembered as the namesake of the townland and reflects the historical presence and influence of the O'Kellys in the region.

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