Despite its suggestive title, no castle has ever been officially recorded at this location. What we do know comes from the Civil Survey of 1654-6, which tells us that Roger ffinglass of Ardcath and Thomas Dillon of Balgeeth owned 180 acres here, complete with a farmhouse and a church. The castle that supposedly gave the field its name remains a mystery, though the field’s designation has persisted through centuries.

The plot thickened in the 1920s when quarrying work on the hill uncovered fragments of an unidentified building. Local schoolchildren documented this discovery in 1938 as part of the Schools Manuscript Collection, preserving a tantalising glimpse of what might have stood here. Was it the elusive castle, remnants of the documented church, or perhaps another structure entirely? The evidence remains frustratingly incomplete.

Adding to the enigma, a map drawn by Thomas Farrell in 1899 clearly marks the Castle Field at Ardcath, confirming that locals have long associated this spot with some sort of fortification or significant structure. Today, however, the precise location of the field itself has become uncertain; a fitting irony for a place named after a building that may never have existed. The site serves as a reminder that Irish placenames often preserve memories of structures and stories that have otherwise vanished from the historical record.