Castle, Dunnamona, Co. Westmeath
The remnants of Dunnamona Castle in County Westmeath tell a story written more in absence than presence.
Castle, Dunnamona, Co. Westmeath
Located in rough pasture where bedrock breaks through the grass, this medieval stronghold has all but vanished from the landscape. The Down Survey map from the 17th century shows it as a tower house on lands owned by Garratt and James Dillon, members of a prominent Anglo-Norman family who held considerable power in Westmeath. By 1808, when cartographer Larkin mapped the county, the castle had already fallen to ruin, earning a simple annotation that spoke volumes about its decline.
Today, visitors to the site need a keen eye and some imagination to trace the castle’s footprint. A low scarp curves from east through south to the northwest, whilst an old laneway completes a roughly triangular boundary from northwest round to the east. This subtle earthwork likely marks where the castle’s defensive walls once stood. North of the laneway, where the ground has been levelled for farming, the scarp may have originally continued, suggesting the fortification was once more extensive than these faint traces indicate.
Archaeological surveys in 1978 and 1983 confirmed what locals already knew; no stonework or visible structures remain above ground. The castle that once commanded this spot, perhaps watching over the Dillon family’s estates and defending against rival clans, has been reclaimed by the earth. Its story survives only in old maps, place names, and the gentle undulations in the pasture that hint at medieval foundations below.