First recorded on the 1839 Ordnance Survey map in gothic lettering, this lost castle appears today as a rectangular cropmark visible from aerial photographs, measuring approximately 50 metres internally and defined by two banks and fosses. Though the castle itself has long since vanished, its ghostly outline emerges in certain conditions when crops grow differently over the buried foundations, creating a shadow of the past that’s invisible at ground level.

Historical records place the castle firmly within the story of 17th-century plantation Ireland. The Neville family held land at Tullycanna from at least 1600, with Walter Neville recorded as owning both the castle and 180 acres here in 1640. The site occupies a strategic position on the eastern side of a north-south stream valley, typical of defensive structures from this period. The rectangular feature, measuring roughly 30 metres from east-northeast to west-southwest and 25 metres from north-northwest to south-southeast, would have commanded views across the surrounding landscape.

Despite its clear presence in aerial photography, the site has proved elusive to modern archaeological investigation. Recent testing conducted about 100 metres to the north-northeast failed to uncover any related materials, suggesting that whatever remains of the castle lies entirely within the cropmark boundaries. This phantom fortress joins countless other Irish tower houses and castles that exist now only as traces in fields and memories in old maps, their stones long since repurposed for walls and farmhouses, leaving behind these subtle signatures that only reveal themselves under perfect conditions.