The site appeared on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map simply as “Nangor castle”, whilst later editions noted “Nangor castle on site of castle”, suggesting the original medieval structure had been absorbed into a 19th-century mansion. Both buildings have since been demolished, leaving only an empty field where this piece of Irish history once stood.

The castle’s documented history stretches back to at least 1532, when records show Ffinian Bassenett was living at Nangor. Archaeological investigations in 1996 revealed fascinating glimpses of the site’s much older past; trial trenching uncovered a substantial ditch system running through the field south of the castle site, along with early medieval pottery, metal slag, and worked lignite cores that suggest activity here during the 12th or 13th centuries. The excavations also turned up human skeletal remains and numerous charcoal-flecked features, hinting at the complex lives lived on this spot over many centuries.

Today, earthworks in the southern field remain the only visible clues to Nangor’s past. The archaeological evidence points to this being more than just a castle site; it appears to have been a centre of medieval industry and habitation, with metalworking and other activities taking place within the protective embrace of those now-vanished ditches. Whilst the stones and timber are long gone, the earth itself still holds the story of Nangor, waiting beneath the surface of an unremarkable Dublin field.