Castlejordan
Caisleán Dhuibh-Shile

The Ireland's Ancient East
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Caisleán Dhuibh-Shile · Co. Meath

A village on the Meath–Offaly border with medieval tower house ruins and the Gifford family history.

Castlejordan is a small village in County Meath, located on the boundary between Meath and County Offaly, south of Kinnegad. The village itself straddles the county line. The townland has medieval roots — the Irish name Caisleán Dhuibh-Shile refers to a castle of old, and there are indeed castle ruins surviving in the village. These ruins are a tower house and associated structures built by the Gifford family in the fifteenth century. The Giffords were an Anglo-Norman family who established themselves at Castlejordan in the late sixteenth century and gradually acquired most of the land in the parish.

The castle ruins today consist of two circular corner towers, evidence of a bawn (a fortified enclosure), and a curious circular tower structure that resembles a turret staircase. The ruins are substantial but increasingly overgrown — ivy covers much of the towers and the stonework is visible but precarious. The lane to the gates offers a view of two towers; beyond that is the bawn and the unusual circular structure. The site is historically significant but has no formal presentation or access — it is a quiet ruin in a quiet village on a quiet border.

Population

~200

Coords

53.3789° N, 7.5094° W

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At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The border

Straddling Meath and Offaly.

Castlejordan sits on the boundary line between County Meath and County Offaly, south of Kinnegad. The village is split by the border itself.

Getting there → 02 The ruins

A 15th-century tower house.

Medieval castle ruins survive in the village — a tower house built by the Gifford family, with two corner towers, a bawn, and a curious circular tower. Most of the structure is now overgrown.

Stories & lore → 03 The Giffords

Protestant Anglo-Norman family.

Sir Richard Gifford established the family here after his father's death in 1595. By the 1650s, the Giffords controlled most of the land in Castlejordan parish within County Meath.

Stories & lore →

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Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Medieval castle, Meath–Offaly border

The Gifford tower house

The castle ruins at Castlejordan are a tower house built by the Gifford family in the medieval period. Two circular towers survive, one at the NW angle and one at the NE angle. The NE tower contains the remains of a newel staircase and survives to what was probably the third floor. A limestone plaque with a chamfered frame once held an inscription on the N side, but the text is now worn away. Beyond the remains of a bawn (a fortified boundary wall) is a curious circular tower structure, almost resembling the Wonderful Barn in County Kildare, which appears to be a turret staircase of perhaps four storeys.

Anglo-Norman family, 1595 onwards

The Giffords at Castlejordan

Sir Richard Gifford became established at Castlejordan after his father's death in 1595. The family consolidated their position over the following decades. According to the Civil Survey of 1654–1656, Sir John Gifford, a Protestant, owned almost all the land in Castlejordan parish within County Meath. The family maintained their hold through the Tudor period and into the seventeenth century. Today, the ruins are the physical remnant of their medieval power in a border landscape.

Getting there.

By car

From Kinnegad: 8km south on the R390. Castlejordan is on the Meath–Offaly border. From Navan: 32km south on the N52 and R390. From Trim: 20km south on the R160 and R390.