Built around 1622 in what was described as ‘a manner of strength’, suggesting defensive features typical of plantation era houses, Dutton’s residence would have been an imposing structure in the local landscape. The house and its associated settlement represented part of the broader plantation of Ulster, where English and Scottish settlers were granted lands to establish new communities.

The turbulent years following the 1641 rebellion brought destruction to many such plantation houses, and Drumdutton was no exception. By the time of the Civil Survey conducted between 1654 and 1656, the once grand dwelling was recorded as having been burnt during the conflict, leaving it in ruins. The survey’s description of it as a ‘large dwelling house of stone called Drim’ gives us some sense of its original scale and importance in the area.

Today, little remains of Captain Dutton’s ambitious venture. The First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1879 marked the site as ‘Old Castle’ to the north of the local church, though by 1845, antiquarian Fagan reported that only a small section survived, incorporated into a flax kiln near the old church. Even this has since vanished, leaving only a solitary stretch of wall, roughly four metres long and nearly two metres high, built from large irregular stone blocks. Now supporting a modest shed east of the church, this weathered fragment may be all that survives of either the house itself or its outbuildings; a humble remnant of what was once a symbol of plantation power and ambition in 17th century Donegal.