Rathdrishoge Castle, Rathdrishoge, Co. Westmeath
Rathdrishoge Castle stands on a south-facing slope in County Westmeath, offering commanding views across the surrounding pasture to the east, south and west.
Rathdrishoge Castle, Rathdrishoge, Co. Westmeath
The castle’s appearance on historical maps reveals an intriguing transformation; whilst the 1838 Ordnance Survey depicts it as a modest square structure with a field boundary cutting through its eastern side, the revised 1913 edition shows a completely different footprint, presenting the castle as an elongated rectangular building oriented from east-northeast to west-southwest.
Today, the castle exists as evocative ruins within the southern section of a large D-shaped enclosure. The remains consist primarily of grass-covered wall footings that trace out a substantial rectangular building measuring approximately 36 metres in length and 6 metres in width. Two sections of wall still stand proud against the landscape; a 6-metre stretch of the southeast wall and a 9-metre portion of the southwest wall, both rising to about 5 metres in height. These surviving walls are built from rubble stone, with roughly hewn quoin stones visible at the southern corner, though no finely dressed stonework remains evident.
The interior reveals two main subdividing walls, now reduced to low, grass-covered footings that hint at the castle’s former internal layout. Adding to the complexity of the site, the foundations of what appears to be an additional range of buildings extend at a right angle from the southeast end of the northeast wall, defined by parallel banks running for about 35 metres. These ruins, recognised for their historical significance and added to the Register of Historic Monuments in December 1987, offer a tangible connection to medieval life in this part of Westmeath.