Originally known as Beal Aith na mBuille, meaning either ‘the mouth of the ford of the strokes’ or ‘the town of the mills’, this strategic location saw a battle amongst the MacBrannan in 1411, after which the O’Conor Roe family seized control and built a castle here. The fortress changed hands numerous times over the following centuries; it was destroyed by Mac Diarmada in 1552, granted to Teige Oge O’Conor Roe in 1585, and later passed to Turlogh Byrne in 1593 after Teige Oge’s attainder. By 1683, historical records describe a stone fort with a bawn and flankers still standing near a strong spring that ran southwest.

The transformation from medieval fortress to Georgian mansion began when Lucas Dillon of Lough Glinn acquired the mortgaged lands in the 1640s, subsequently selling them to Nicholas Mahon in 1662. Captain Nicholas Mahon and his son John constructed a house on the castle site, likely completed by 1696 as commemorated by a date stone, with a thick wall in the current basement thought to be a remnant of the original castle. The 1730s brought the most dramatic change when Thomas Mahon commissioned architect Richard Castle to design the present Palladian mansion; a grand seven bay, three storey residence built over a basement that may incorporate the earlier structure. The house features two distinct wings connected by curving walls with niches, the northern pavilion housing kitchens whilst the southern contains stables with groin vaulted ceilings supported by Doric columns.

The early 19th century saw Lord Hartland add a four column Ionic portico entrance and redesign both the parkland and the town of Strokestown in a grand manner, creating the distinctive planned layout visible today. The Packenham Mahon family maintained residence at Strokestown Park House until 1981, after which this remarkable building, with its layers of Irish history embedded in its very walls, was transformed into the Irish Famine Museum. The house stands as a testament to the complex social and political changes that swept through this corner of Roscommon, from medieval battlefield to aristocratic estate to museum documenting one of Ireland’s darkest chapters.