The castle first appears in historical records during the 1655-9 Down Survey, which described it as being “in repaire” with a bawn, orchard, ash trees and a nearby chapel of ease. At that time, the property belonged to William Goulding (or Golding), who held it during the tumultuous period of 1641. The Down Survey’s parish map of Little Castletown clearly shows the castle positioned just west of the chapel, suggesting these two structures formed an important focal point for the local community.

By the early 19th century, the castle had already fallen into ruin, as evidenced by Larkin’s 1808 map of County Westmeath, which marks the location of the castle ruins. However, when archaeologists visited the site in 1980, they found little to suggest a substantial structure had ever stood there. They noted only a faint rectangular enclosure against a field fence, outlined by a low bank with a shallow outer fosse, which they suspected might simply be the remains of an old field boundary. More recently, aerial photographs from 2011 have revealed earthworks in the area that could represent the last traces of the ruins marked on Larkin’s map.

Intriguingly, the Ordnance Survey Field name Book from 1837 mentions that Archerstown townland contained ruins of two ancient castles, not just one. This tantalising detail suggests a more complex medieval history for the area than initially apparent, though the location and fate of this second castle remains a mystery. Today, visitors to Archerstown will find themselves relying more on imagination than observation to conjure up the defensive structures that once dominated this quiet corner of Westmeath.