Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a slight natural rise in gently undulating grassland, with good views to ESE. Ringfort (WM012-116----) 80m to NE, townland boundary with Ballynagall 80m to E. This earthwork possibly marks the site of Loughanstown Castle which is depicted standing on a hillock adjacent to the townland boundary of Ballynagall on the 1655-9 Down Survey map of Corkaree barony (NLI MS 723-4). The grass-covered wall footings of a sub-rectangular shaped structure possibly a tower house (approx. dims. 7.9m N-S x 9.1m E-W) with an internal division is visible in the W quadrant of a ringfort (WM012-117---).
This stone structure possibly represents the remains of Loughanstown Castle which is depicted on the 1655-9 Down Survey map of Portnashangan parish (ibid.). The terrier of this parish map recorded that 'There are Scituate in it the Castles of Loughanstowne, Ballenegall (WM012-169----)'. In 1641 the Down Survey map listed Oliver Uriell as an 'Irish Papist' and the owner of the lands in Loughanstown. Oliver was probably descended from William Urielle who in 1540 was appointed a collector for the barony of Corkaree (MacLysaght 1964, 155).
The castle is not depicted on any edition of the OS 6-inch maps. In the 19th century O’Donovan in his notes on Westmeath recorded that there was the ‘site of a castle in townland of Loughanstown. It belonged to Dr Delamare, there are no remains of the walls. A green earthen mound occupies the site. The little lake, which gives name to the townland lies in the next field to it’ (RIA 12N 9). The Ordnance Survey Name Book number 47 recorded the following details; ‘There was a castle in this townland, which belonged to one Delamer, but there are now no remains of it. The site is pointed out immediately to the left of the road passing through Laughanstown to Mullingar. It is very close to the lockan or small lake which gives name to the townland’ (SMR File). The castle ruins are marked on 1808 Larkin’s map of Co. Westmeath. The ASI described the site in 1980 as a ‘low rounded rise with a pond at its SW foot. There is no trace of a ruin here now. Slight remains of wide low banks probably field banks run near the foot of the rise on W and NW’ (SMR File 16/10/1980). The ringfort (WM012-117----) in the field to the E of the lake has the wall footings of a stone structure (WM012-117001-) in the W quadrant of the ringfort and may be the remains of Loughanstown Castle. The site of this castle is marked in the Westmeath RMP as WM012-114---- in the field to the NNW. There is no surface evidence in this field to suggest that this is the correct location for Loughanstown Castle.

Compiled by: Frank Coyne and Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 5 March 2018

References

NLI, MS 723-4 - National Library of Ireland, The parish maps of the Down Survey for the County of Westmeath, attested by W. Petty, in 1659. Copied by Daniel O'Brien. A set of 67 maps with accompanying terriers in two volumes, 1786-7. Dublin.

MacLysaght, E. 1964 Supplement to Irish Families. Helicon.