Assey Castle, Assey, Co. Meath

Assey Castle, Assey, Co. Meath

Assey Castle once stood on the gently rolling landscape of County Meath, with a small stream running about 90 metres to the east and the River Boyne flowing roughly 170 metres to the north.

Assey Castle, Assey, Co. Meath

The nearby parish church of Assey, just 60 metres away, would have been its close neighbour in this rural setting. According to the Civil Survey of 1654;6, the castle formed part of a substantial 177-acre estate owned by Mathias Barnwall, Lord of Trimblestown, which also included a corn mill, the church, and several cottages, painting a picture of a thriving medieval settlement.

The castle itself appears to have been something of an architectural puzzle. Writing in 1850, William Wilde described it as a square keep with circular towers at opposite corners, suggesting a medieval fortification. However, an earlier illustration by Grosse from 1791 shows square corner towers topped with gables and chimneys, features more typical of seventeenth-century domestic architecture. This discrepancy hints that the building may have been modified over time, perhaps transformed from a defensive structure into a more comfortable residence as Ireland became more settled.



Sadly, Assey Castle was demolished sometime after the 1940s, and today no trace of it remains above ground. Archaeological excavations carried out in 2005 and 2010 in the vicinity failed to uncover any related materials, leaving the castle’s exact location and layout a matter of historical record rather than physical evidence. Its absence from the Down Survey maps of 1656;8 adds another layer of mystery to this lost piece of Meath’s heritage, though its inclusion in the Civil Survey confirms it was still standing in the mid-seventeenth century.

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Grose, F. 1791 The antiquities of Ireland, 2 vols. London. S. Hooper. Wilde, W. 1850 The beauties of the Boyne and its tributary, the Blackwater (2nd ed). Dublin. McGlashan. Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1940 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol. V: county of Meath. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.
Assey, Co. Meath
53.5931862, -6.68540442
53.5931862,-6.68540442
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