Built between 1780 and 1830, Ladestown House forms the southwestern side of a courtyard complex, with an ice house situated about 75 metres to the south. The current ruins represent the latest chapter in a site that has been occupied for centuries; whilst no castle appears on the 1654-7 Down Survey map, the lands belonged to Richard Hope in 1641 and were later granted to Randall Adams in 1666 under the Act of Settlement. The estate, also known as Ballyledwich or Ledwichtown, changed hands in 1715 when it was sold by Adams’s son John.

Archaeological evidence suggests the 19th century house may have been built atop an earlier fortified structure. A 1697 rental map depicts what appears to be a three-bay, three-storey battlemented house with round corner turrets, complete with a hipped roof and set within a rectangular walled enclosure. This earlier building featured a single-bay breakfront with an open pediment, typical of the defensive architecture of its time. By 1808, Larkin’s map of County Westmeath still showed castle ruins at this location, though no surface remains of these earlier structures are visible today.

The house that visitors can see now was likely rebuilt around 1823 as a five-bay, two-storey over basement residence with a single-storey porch on its south-facing entrance. According to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, whilst some outbuildings may date to the earlier 1780s house, much of the main complex, including stables and farmyard buildings, was constructed or reconstructed during this 1823 rebuilding. It’s entirely possible that stones from the original castle were incorporated into these later buildings, a common practice that allowed the practical reuse of sturdy building materials whilst inadvertently preserving fragments of Ireland’s medieval past within newer walls.