This ancient holding can be traced through various spellings; Ballycaock, Ballicauke, Baliscaoke, and Ballikeiocke; before settling on Ballyhoge in the baronies of Bantry and Shelmaliere in County Wexford. Though the Hospitallers lost control of the property during the Suppression of 1540-1, a castle had risen on the site by the 16th century. By 1641, Dudley Colclough had acquired 440 acres along with what was already described as a ruined castle, which appears clearly marked on the Down Survey maps of 1655-6.

The estate changed hands several times over the following centuries, passing through the Saunders, Hore, and Ogle families before being rechristened as Bellevue in the late 1700s. The Cliffe family, who became the final owners, added a private Catholic chapel between 1858 and 1860, which proved to be the only structure to survive the house’s destruction. In January 1923, during the tumultuous period following Irish independence, Bellevue House was burned and completely razed, leaving only the chapel standing as a testament to the property’s long history.

Tantalising hints of the medieval past nearly survived into living memory; in 1838-9, the antiquarian H. F. Hore noted that one of Bellevue House’s towers incorporated remnants of the original medieval castle. Unfortunately, no trace of these medieval features remains today. Archaeological testing carried out in 2018 immediately south of the site yielded no related materials, leaving the chapel as the sole physical link to this site’s remarkable journey from a medieval religious manor to a modern Irish estate.