Castle, Ballyengland Upper, Co. Limerick

This imposing tower house, also known as Castle Hewson, measures approximately 11.7 by 9.2 metres and rises from a crag some six metres high. Built with walls two metres thick, the structure features a distinctive batter at its base and originally contained three storeys beneath a barrel vault. The castle's design follows a particular Irish tower house pattern, with its entrance positioned in one of the long walls near a corner, leading to an internal lobby and wall stairs that wind through the building's substantial masonry.

The castle's turbulent history reflects the broader upheavals of 16th and 17th century Ireland. Originally an appanage of Keynsham Abbey, the property came into the hands of Thomas England by 1581, who received royal pardons in both 1581 and 1590. However, family fortunes took a dark turn when his son Philip was hanged and attainted for rebellion, leaving behind a young son Oliver and casting the estate into uncertainty. The 1654 Civil Survey records John McRory, described as an "Irish Papist", as proprietor of Upper Englandstown, though the lands were mortgaged to Dominick Roch, an alderman of Limerick. By 1669, the Crown granted the property to Oliver Lambert, and around 1700, the Bridges family leased the castle to the Hewsons, whose name became synonymous with the site.

Today, visitors can explore the remaining tower with its pointed south doorway leading to stone roofed staircases, lit by narrow defensive slits. The internal rooms, measuring roughly 7.6 by 4.5 metres, once had wooden floors supported by joists, the holes for which are still visible in the walls. The second storey retains evidence of medieval comfort with three windows, a latrine in the northwest corner, and a small chamber in the northeast. Recent investigations have uncovered a stair in the north wall descending to a lower level carved partially from the living rock. Adjacent to the medieval tower stands Ballyengland House, a Georgian country house built around 1760, incorporating some of the castle's southern outworks into its structure, creating a fascinating architectural dialogue between medieval fortification and Georgian elegance.