Historical records from 1633 to 1636 describe it as “a good Castle” with “a lowe Irish mill” somewhere nearby, though the exact location of the mill has been lost to time. The castle was once an O’Hara stronghold, and by 1836 it had already fallen into ruins. A late 18th century drawing by Francis Grose shows what was then a complex of ruined buildings, with parts still standing up to first floor level.

Today, the site tells a different story. Surface quarrying has transformed the area into a landscape of scars and spoil heaps, leaving only fragments of the castle’s former glory. Four pieces of fallen masonry lie on the south side of a slight rise, whilst just northeast of these, a linear depression stretches for 25 metres; five metres wide and about 30 centimetres deep, wet in places. This depression may be the remains of a fosse, a defensive ditch that once protected the castle.

The 1838 Ordnance Survey map shows the castle as a roughly rectangular structure measuring 35 metres from northeast to southwest and 30 metres from northwest to southeast. It also depicts a small rectangular enclosure and three small structures on the southeast side. About 200 metres to the west southwest, you’ll find a church and graveyard, silent neighbours to this once formidable fortress. Though little remains of Ballyara Castle today, these scattered ruins and earthworks offer tantalising glimpses into Ireland’s medieval past and the powerful families who once controlled these lands.