Site of Ballydoogan Castle, Ballydoogan, Co. Galway
Co. Galway |
Tower Houses
In the pastureland northwest of Ballydoogan House in County Galway, fragments of masonry and architectural details are all that remain of a once formidable tower house.
Known as Ballydoogan Castle, or 'Bealladugane' as it appeared in 1574 records, the structure was then in the possession of one Tege Mc Gill patrick. The castle stood for centuries, still marked on the 1838 Ordnance Survey map, though by the third edition in 1933 it had been demolished and reduced to merely 'Site of' on official documentation.
A photograph from around 1892 captures the castle in its final years, revealing a ruined tower that rose at least three storeys high. When archaeologists from the Galway Survey first examined the site in 1983, they discovered sections of original walling incorporated into later farm buildings; one wall measuring 1.95 metres in length and 2.9 metres high, complete with a distinctive base batter. More recent investigations in 2017 uncovered additional foundations during trench digging behind Ballydoogan House, suggesting these remnants likely formed part of the castle's bawn wall rather than the tower house itself.
Today, visitors can spot various architectural fragments scattered about the property that hint at the castle's former grandeur. An arch stone from a doorway and the top of an ogee window head now rest against a garden wall, whilst dressed stones have been pragmatically recycled into the construction of outhouses. Even massive timber beams, likely original to the tower house, have found new life as joists in a western outhouse. These repurposed elements serve as tangible links to medieval Galway, when tower houses like Ballydoogan dominated the landscape and provided both residence and defence for local landowners.
Ref: GA05856
04-Essential
Nearby Places
Visitor Notes
Added by
Pete F
O’Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1927 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Galway collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Typescript in 3 vols. Bray.
Nolan, J.P. 1901a Galway castles and owners in 1574. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 1, 109-23.
O’Riordan, A. 2015 East Galway agrarian agitation and the burning of Ballydugan House, 1922. Dublin. Four Courts Press.
