Site of Castle — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Tankardstown Castle vanished before the nineteenth century, leaving no stone behind despite appearing on mid-seventeenth-century surveys. The site belongs to a long chain of disputed ownership stretching from the late twelfth century through the Russell and Ormsby families. What remains is a empty field where a tower house once stood, stripped of every visible mark by time and reuse.

Westropp (1906/7, 172-3) recorded the following details about Tankardstown [Baile Thancaird] Castle; '1280 Anne, widow of J. de Cogan, claimed dower off Tancardstown from J. de Penrys (Mem. R.). 1291 Balliitankard held by de Lees, de Goulys, and, in 1320, by the Russells, a suit arising as to whether J. de Cogan had unjustly disseised John, grandfather of Tho. Russell, of it (Plea R.). There was a Tancardus Russell, of Kilbreedy 1325 (Ib.). 1583 Jas. Fox held Ballytanckarde (Des. R., 33b). The C[astle]. is not given in the surveys of 1655. It was granted, 1666, to Capt. C. Ormsby. The site was called Caisleán Baile an Airighte, in 1840 (O.S.L., 8, p. 85)'. Tankardstown Castle depicted as a tower house type structure standing in the centre of a possible polygonal shaped bawn on the 1654-6 Down Survey map of Coshma Barony (Hib. Reg.). Annotated 'Tankardstowne Castle' on the Down Survey map of Tankardstown Parish (NLI, Ms 718). The terrier of the Down Survey parish map recorded that on the lands of Tankardstown there stood a 'decayed castle' which in 1640 was in the possession of Nell Lacy (nee FitzGerald) (ibid.). In 1840 the Ordnance Survey letters recorded that 'there was an old castle, the ancient name of which was "Caisleán Bhaile in Airighthe" in Tankardstown North Townland but not a vestige of it remains at present' (O'Flanagan 1929, 30). See attached Down Survey map of Coshma Barony and map of Tankardstown Parish. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 19 August 2021

Built by the de Cogan family in the late 13th century, Tankardstown North Castle changed hands through inheritance and marriage, reflecting the shifting alliances in Norman Ireland. It is remembered for its association with key Anglo-Norman families and its mention in medieval legal records, illustrating land disputes and feudal claims of the period.

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