Though nothing remains visible on the surface today, this spot once hosted a castle belonging to the McAuliffes, a prominent Irish family whose fortunes took a dramatic turn during the tumultuous 16th century. Known locally as ‘Caislean an Cnuic’, the castle stood in what were called ‘Pairceanna a cnuic’, or the Hill fields, approximately 800 metres south of Newmarket House. The site appears innocuously on the 1937 Ordnance Survey map simply as ‘Fair Field’, giving little hint of its medieval past.

The castle’s location was noted by various historical sources over the centuries. In 1837, the topographer Samuel Lewis recorded that a castle had formerly stood on ‘The Mount near Mr Aldworth’s Lodge’, which is now part of the Newmarket House demesne. Local tradition and historical research by Bowman in 1934 helped preserve knowledge of the castle’s Irish name and its precise location, even as physical traces disappeared from the landscape.

The McAuliffe castle met its end following the Desmond Rebellions of the late 16th century, when the family’s estate was forfeited to the Crown. This was a common fate for Irish families who supported the Earl of Desmond against English rule during this period of conquest and resistance. Today, while archaeologists and historians can pinpoint where the castle once stood, visitors to the site will find only rolling fields; a reminder that some of Ireland’s most significant historical sites exist now only in memory, maps, and the careful work of local historians who keep these stories alive.