The site appears on the 1835 Ordnance Survey six-inch map as ‘Bell Green’, where a distinctive T-shaped structure once stood, measuring roughly 15 metres northwest to southeast and 10 metres northeast to southwest, with a small projection jutting out from the centre of its southwestern side. Though nothing remains visible at ground level today, the site has captured the imagination of local historians for decades.

Local tradition knew these ruins as ‘Bruncott’s Castle’, a name that persisted in folk memory long after the stones themselves had disappeared. In 1948, historian Davies documented the site and proposed an intriguing theory: this might have been a plantation castle constructed by James Archibald during the tumultuous period of Ulster’s plantation. However, the historical record presents a puzzle; no castle appears at Boagh on the detailed Down Survey barony maps drawn between 1656 and 1658, casting some doubt on whether a fortified structure ever truly stood here.

The mystery of Bell Green demonstrates how Ireland’s historical landscape often exists more in memory and speculation than in stone and mortar. Whether it was indeed a plantation castle, a fortified house, or perhaps a structure that predated or postdated the Down Survey’s careful documentation, the site remains an enigma. Archaeological surveys conducted as recently as 2016 have confirmed that whatever once stood here has been completely erased from the physical landscape, leaving only its ghostly footprint on old maps and in the collective memory of the local community.