Today, nothing remains visible above ground level, but historical records tell us this wasn’t always the case. The Civil Survey of 1654-6 noted that ‘the walls of a little burned castle’ were still standing in the mid-17th century, offering a glimpse into a structure that had clearly seen better days before meeting its fiery end.

The castle’s ownership in 1640 fell to James Prendergast of Tulloemealane Esquire, who is recorded as an ‘Irish Papist’; a designation that speaks volumes about the religious and political tensions of the period. This was an era when Catholic landowners faced increasing pressure and persecution, particularly in the lead-up to and aftermath of the 1641 Rebellion. The fact that Prendergast’s castle was burned suggests it may have fallen victim to the widespread destruction that characterised these turbulent decades of Irish history.

By the time the Ordnance Survey mapped the area in 1840, Curragh Castle had already faded into memory, marked simply as a ‘site of’ on their detailed six-inch maps. The transformation from standing walls in the 1650s to complete disappearance by the Victorian era tells a familiar story of Ireland’s lost castles; structures that once dominated the landscape, only to be gradually reclaimed by the very fields they once protected.