Ballaghmore Castle

Ballaghmore Castle
County Laois
Ballaghmore Castle
Location
Grid reference:	S19738988
Location:	52°57’35"N, 7°42’25"W
Village:	Ballaghmore
History
	Built 1480
Information
Condition:	Habitable
Website:	castleballaghmore.com

'Ballaghmore Castle stands by the village of Ballaghmore in County Laois. It derived its name from the 'Bealach Mor', the 'Great Passage' - the ancient road to Munster on which the castle stands guard.

Ballaghmore Castle was built in 1480 by the Irish chieftain Mac Giolla Phádraig (MacGillapatricks, but nowadays rendered 'Fitzpatrick').

Like many other castles Ballaghmore Castle was damaged by Cromwellian forces in 1647 during the Laois-Offaly Plantation.

In 1836, a Mr Ely restored the castle, and it is said that he found a hoard of gold on the land in the process. Ely was killed by an angry farmer and never lived in the castle. The uninhabited building was used as granary and fell in disrepair until it was bought by its present owner in 1990.

Of all the castles of Upper Ossory, Ballghmore is the only one which is still habitable.

Sheela na Gig

A very interesting feature of the Ballaghmore Castle is the Sheela na Gig which is carved in a corner stone of the outer front-facing wall.<refname=cb/> The sheela-na-Gig is depicted as an ugly, half-dead, woman with contorted face and fully exposed privy parts. The emphasis on the female reproduction organs in combination with her deathlike appearance is associated with the cycle of birth and death. The Sheela-na-Gig is thought to be an ancient, pre-Christian, Irish emblem, perhaps a Celtic fertility goddess. Sheela-na-Gig figures were common in Ireland and Britain, but just a few of them survived the Victorian nineteenth century.

See also

• Cullahill Castle

Outside links

• Ballaghmore Castle