The castle’s story begins in 1620, when John Farrell received a land grant during the Plantation of Longford that included ‘The lordship, castle, town and lands of Ardenragh’. Early maps tell us what we’ve lost; a 17th-century map of Shrule barony depicts it as a large castellated structure surrounded by smaller buildings, whilst the Down Survey of 1655-6 confirms its prominent position in the local landscape.

The castle witnessed turbulent times during the 1641 Rebellion, when Bryan Farrell was recorded standing on its battlements, keeping watch over his cattle ‘for feare of the Toryes’. This tower house survived another two and a half centuries before meeting its end in 1906, when loose stepping stones around the rooftop led to its demolition. The current farmhouse, built in 1814 as an addition to the castle and known as ‘Castle Farm’ on old Ordnance Survey maps, now stands alone where the two structures once joined at the southwest corner.

Today, visitors won’t find visible traces of the castle itself, though punch-dressed cut stones lying about the property hint at its former grandeur. An 1881 postcard preserved by the current owners shows the tower house in its final years, a solitary remnant of medieval Longford standing sentinel beside its newer Georgian companion. Whilst the castle may have vanished from the landscape, its stones remain as tangible links to four centuries of Irish history, from plantation grants through rebellion to eventual ruin.