Site of Castle, Ballyclogh, Co. Limerick

Built around 1780, the house cleverly repurposed the remains of Ballyclogh Castle, with the northern end of the building containing castle walls measuring an impressive eight feet thick. When the Ordnance Survey documented the site in 1840, they noted that human bones had been discovered whilst digging in the vicinity, adding a somewhat macabre element to the property's history. The current five-bay, two-storey house replaced an earlier structure from 1645, though confusion about the castle's exact location persisted well into the Victorian era, with late 19th-century Ordnance Survey maps mistakenly placing the castle site in a field 75 metres east of the actual house.

The lands of Ballyclogh, sometimes referred to as Crewally or variations of Baile na Cloiche, have a documented history stretching back to before 1194, when King Donald granted the territory of Imalin to the Cathedral. Throughout the medieval period, ownership passed through various hands; Bishop Edmond granted the lands to J. de St. John in 1230, and by 1336, they were held by T. de Valle. The Civil Survey of 1654-56 provides a fascinating snapshot of the property under John Arthur of Limerick, an Irish Catholic, recording not just a stone house but also a corn mill, a tucking mill, and six thatched cabins on the estate.

Today, Ballyclogh House presents itself as a handsome Georgian building with a hipped slate roof, rendered walls, and timber sash windows, giving little outward indication of its medieval foundations. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage notes various alterations over the centuries, but the thick castle walls embedded in the north elevation remain as a tangible link to Ireland's turbulent past, when such fortifications were essential for survival rather than architectural curiosity.