The castle, which appeared on the Down Survey maps of 1655-6 as a prominent structure near the northern townland boundary, was described in the accompanying terrier as “a Castle well repaired a strong Bawn and a good mill”. Local tradition, recorded in the Ordnance Survey Letters of 1839, suggests the castle may have belonged to the Grace family, though documentary evidence points to different occupants during the turbulent 17th century.

The property’s documented history reveals its connection to St. John’s Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when Henry VIII granted these confiscated possessions to the Corporation of Kilkenny. The Corporation subsequently leased the townland to members of the Rothe family, one of Kilkenny’s most prominent merchant families. By 1628, David Rothe fitz Robert was paying £9 rent for his portion whilst John Rothe fitz Edward paid £3 for his share, indicating the townland was divided between different branches of the family.

The Rothes’ tenure came to an abrupt end during the Cromwellian period; in 1653, both David Rothe’s grandson and John Rothe fitz Edward forfeited their holdings at Drakeland. The Down Survey, conducted just a few years later, recorded David and Jo. Rooth as the proprietors in 1640, providing a snapshot of ownership just before the Confederate Wars brought dramatic changes to landholding patterns across Ireland. Today, whilst the castle itself may be gone, the bawn remains as a tangible reminder of this layered history, from monastic lands to corporate property, and from Catholic merchant ownership to Cromwellian confiscation.