The couple left their mark across the local landscape, erecting commemorative wayside crosses at Annesbrook in 1600 and Duleek in 1601, but perhaps their most personal memorial sits high on the tower house wall itself: a stone bearing their initials, two family crests within wreaths, and that foundational date of 1590.

The Bathe family held considerable sway in the area during the 17th century. When surveyed in the 1650s, James Bath owned 126 acres at Athcarne, complete with ‘one castle with a Barne and Divers outhouses’, alongside substantial holdings at Sneog, Deenes, and Reask. Though his son Luke regained the family possessions in 1662 following the Act of Settlement, the estate eventually passed to a Dublin merchant in 1703. Unlike many tower houses that fell into ruin, Athcarne continued as a residence well into the 19th century, albeit with significant modifications including the insertion of large modern windows on the upper floors and the addition of new wings.

The castle’s ground floor reveals its defensive origins with two separate barrel-vaulted chambers that don’t connect internally. The northwestern chamber, accessed through a pointed doorway, links to a projecting tower containing the newel stairs, whilst the southeastern chamber boasts its own entrance with an ornately decorated threshold and a brick-lined vault. Though the upper floors were extensively modernised with rectangular windows and brick linings, original medieval features survive: pointed doorways from the stair tower, what may be a garderobe doorway at second floor level, and fireplaces on the first and second floors. Now designated as National Monument No. 539 under state ownership, Athcarne Castle stands as a fascinating example of how Ireland’s medieval fortifications adapted and evolved through centuries of continuous occupation.