Known simply as Doon Castle, this fortification was recorded in 1574 as being in the possession of Tege McMelaghlin O’Kelly, a member of one of Galway’s prominent Gaelic families. The O’Kellys were significant landowners in the region, and their castles served as both defensive structures and symbols of their political power during a period when Gaelic lords still held considerable sway over much of Ireland.

By the time the Ordnance Survey teams arrived to map the area in the 1830s, the castle had already fallen into complete ruin. The survey letters, compiled by John O’Flanagan and published in 1927, note rather poignantly that “no part of the walls is now standing”. This dramatic deterioration from a functioning castle in the late 1500s to complete obliteration within roughly 250 years tells a familiar story of Ireland’s tower houses and smaller castles, many of which were abandoned following the upheavals of the 17th century wars and the subsequent changes in land ownership.

Today, no visible trace of Doon Castle remains above ground, though its location is still marked by the enclosure that once surrounded it, catalogued as GA073-073001 in archaeological records. The site serves as a reminder of how completely time and neglect can erase even substantial stone structures, leaving only documentary evidence and place names to hint at what once stood there. The castle’s history, brief as it appears in the records, offers a glimpse into the world of Gaelic lordship in north Galway during the twilight years before the complete English conquest of Ireland.