Castle, Coolalough, Co. Westmeath
Perched on a small knoll about 240 metres south-southeast of Coolalough House, the ruins of Coolalough Castle command sweeping views across the undulating Westmeath pastures.
Castle, Coolalough, Co. Westmeath
What remains today is a rectangular tower house, its western and northern walls still standing roughly seven metres high, whilst the eastern and southern walls have crumbled to mere footings barely half a metre tall. Built from undressed stones laid in rough courses, the castle features a narrow loop window in its lower western wall and a large gap above, likely where a window once stood before being broken out. The structure appears on the first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch map as a rectangular building oriented west-northwest to east-southeast, and traces of a bawn, or fortified enclosure, can still be spotted surrounding the castle ruins.
The site has a fascinating later history tied to the Handy family and the famous Methodist preacher John Wesley. Wesley wrote in his letters that he preached to large congregations at Coolalough on several occasions, and in 1785 he noted that the Handy family had recently built a new property here, apparently renamed Bracca Castle. The ruins of this later Coolalough House and its outbuildings likely date to this period or shortly afterwards, according to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. A post-1700 limekiln stands about 100 metres to the east, marked on the 1910 edition of the OS 25-inch map, whilst a modern farm complex now sits some 50 metres to the northeast.
Today, the castle ruins stand as a vegetation-covered rectangular shell, visible from aerial photography but largely forgotten amongst the pastoral landscape. The absence of any dressed stone suggests this was a relatively modest fortification, built for defence rather than display, yet its elevated position and the remnants of its protective bawn speak to its strategic importance in centuries past.