This low spur of the Monavullagh Mountains in County Waterford holds the invisible remnants of a castle that played a brief but dramatic role in Ireland’s turbulent 17th century. Today, nothing remains visible at ground level, but historical records paint a vivid picture of what once stood here.

The castle belonged to Darby O’Brien in 1641, during the early days of the Irish Confederate Wars. Contemporary accounts from around 1655 describe it as “a large slate house” surrounded by a bawn; a defensive wall typical of Irish fortified houses of the period. This wasn’t merely a military structure but a substantial residence, built to withstand the violent uncertainties of the era whilst providing comfortable accommodation for its inhabitants.

The site’s most dramatic moment came in 1643 when Peter Anthony occupied the castle. His tenure proved short-lived when Royalist forces under Sir Charles Vavasour arrived and burnt the structure to the ground. This destruction was part of the wider conflict between Royalist and Parliamentary forces that engulfed Ireland during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Though the castle never recovered from this assault, its foundations likely remain beneath the soil, a silent testament to the violent upheavals that swept through rural Waterford during one of Ireland’s most chaotic centuries.