Where a castle once stood, defending its ground against the relentless siege of Cromwellian forces in the 17th century, there’s now not a single stone or earthwork to mark its existence. The castle met its end during Cromwell’s brutal campaign through Ireland in the 1640s and 1650s, when his forces systematically destroyed strongholds that might serve as centres of resistance to English rule.

The complete erasure of the castle from the landscape speaks to the thoroughness of its destruction; whether the stones were carted away for other building projects or simply scattered to the winds over centuries remains unknown. What we do know is that by the 19th century, the site had been transformed entirely with the construction of Cangort House, a Georgian residence that gave no hint of the military fortification that once occupied the same ground.

Today, visitors to Cangort would find it hard to imagine the drama that unfolded here over 350 years ago. The peaceful demesne grounds show no scars from the siege warfare that once raged across this land, serving as a reminder of how completely time and human activity can erase even the most substantial structures from both the landscape and memory.