Built as a three-storey fortified house in the late 16th century, the castle has witnessed centuries of Irish history unfold within its walls. The structure, now rendered in cement and extended to four bays, features a distinctive circular tower at its northeast corner containing a spiral staircase, whilst corner machicolations and restored crenellations speak to its defensive origins. Its design shows clear influence from the house at Fethard, located roughly 2.7 kilometres to the southeast.

The castle’s turbulent history began with the Whitty family, who held the property from at least 1578. During the Confederate Wars in March 1642, the castle became the scene of a dramatic siege when Royalist forces from Duncannon fort attacked Walter Whitty and his two brothers defending their home. The assault failed when two attackers were killed by gunfire from the castle, and relief arrived from Captain Thomas Rossiter’s rebel camp at Shelbaggan. The ensuing skirmish saw Lieutenant Treviscoe and fifteen of his men killed as they pursued Rossiter’s retreating forces. After the Cromwellian conquest, the Whittys lost their lands, and by 1666 the castle had passed to Henry Loftus, who resided there until moving to what would become Loftus Hall in the late 1670s.

The castle’s connection to rebellion continued into 1798, when it housed the Devereux brothers, prominent United Irishmen rebels. Though military forces burned the castle in retaliation, the brothers managed to escape abroad, leaving Dungulph in ruins for over a century. The castle found new life in 1917 when Michael Clooney restored it, establishing it as his family home. The Clooneys had arrived at Dungulph through Thomas Clooney’s 1817 marriage to Elanor Devereux, bringing milling expertise from Old Ross. Today, the castle remains in the Clooney family, its restored walls encompassing not just a home but centuries of Wexford’s complex and often violent past.