This unassuming building at Tullymagawly was once the seat of the Magawlys of Calry, a local family whose presence here stretches back centuries. According to historian Liam Cox, writing in 1972, the house sits alongside intriguing remnants of what may have been a much older fortification.

The most compelling evidence of this earlier structure is a high wall of old masonry that still stands near the house. Within this weathered wall, several splayed windows survive, each measuring a narrow four inches by fifteen inches; their distinctive shape and size typical of defensive architecture from centuries past. Cox suggests this wall likely formed part of a bawn, the protective enclosure that would have surrounded an earlier building, quite possibly a castle belonging to the Magawly family.

The current house, marked as Tullymagawly on Ordnance Survey six-inch maps, appears to have been built as a replacement for whatever stood here before. Whether the original structure was indeed a castle or a fortified house remains uncertain, but the surviving masonry offers a tantalising glimpse into the defensive needs and social standing of the families who controlled this part of Westmeath in earlier times. These fragments of old walls, standing quietly beside their Georgian successor, serve as physical links to Ireland’s complex layers of habitation and rebuilding.