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CASTLEJORDAN

CO. CO. MEATH · IE

Castlejordan
Caisleán Shiurdáin, Co. Co. Meath

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

Caisleán Shiurdáin · Co. Co. Meath

A border hamlet named for a Norman exile, with a ruined tower house by the river and not much else - which is rather the point.

Castlejordan is a townland of about eighty-five people in the south-west corner of Meath, a few miles below Kinnegad and hard against the Offaly border. The civil parish was always a border thing: partly in Meath, partly in what the old maps called King's County, and edged on one side by the River Boyne, which used to separate it from Kildare. The 1837 topographical dictionary counted nearly four thousand souls in the parish across all three counties. Today the village proper is a crossroads with a church, a school, a post office and a pub.

The name is the most interesting thing in it. Caisleán Shiurdáin - Jordan's castle - remembers Jordan De Courcy, a Norman who was sent into exile in Exeter after his uncle John De Courcy was killed at Downpatrick, and who came back to Ireland in the early thirteenth century to build a fortress on this spot. The Giffords, the family most people associate with the ruin, only acquired it generations later, in the confiscations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By 1661 Thomas Gifford had been made a baronet; in 1642 the castle had been attacked by rebels while a Gifford held it.

Do not make a special journey. This is a quiet farming village on a quiet border, and the castle - which is the only reason a visitor would come - is on private land, choked with ivy, and slipping away year by year. Worth a slow look from the road if you are already passing between Kinnegad and Edenderry. Not worth a detour from anywhere far.

Population

~85 (townland, 2011)

Founded

Norman castle, early 13th century (Jordan De Courcy)

Coords

53.3967° N, 7.1114° W

01 / 07

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 name

Caisleán Shiurdáin - Jordan's castle.

The village takes its name from Jordan De Courcy, a Norman exiled to Exeter after his uncle John De Courcy fell at Downpatrick. He came back to Ireland in the early 13th century and put a fortress here. The Giffords came centuries later.

Stories & lore → 02 The border

On the Meath line, with Offaly across the field.

Castlejordan sits in the south of Meath, a few miles south-west of Kinnegad, right against the Offaly border. The old parish spilled across both counties and once ran down to the Boyne, which marked the edge of Kildare.

Getting there → 03 The ruin

A tower house disappearing under ivy.

Two flanking towers, the remains of a bawn, and a curious circular stair-turret stand beside a bridge on the River Mongagh. It is on private land, overgrown, and uninterpreted. Look from the road and move on.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The village pub

One bar, locals

Local pub

Castlejordan has a single pub alongside its post office and church - a crossroads local rather than a destination. There is no live-music programme or tourist menu to report; it is the village bar, doing the job a village bar does. If you want choice, Kinnegad and Edenderry have it.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

Norman exile, early 13th century

Jordan De Courcy and the castle

The village is named for Jordan De Courcy, a kinsman of John De Courcy, the Norman conqueror of Ulster. After John fell at Downpatrick the family lost ground, and Jordan was exiled to Exeter; he returned to Ireland and built a fortress on this site early in the thirteenth century. In the 1240s the surrounding territory owed the service of two knights to Geoffrey de Geneville, lord of Trim, so this was a working frontier of the medieval lordship. The standing ruin you see today - two flanking towers, a fragment of bawn, and a tall circular stair-turret that locals compare to the Wonderful Barn in Kildare - sits beside a bridge on the River Mongagh. It is on private land next to a modern house, heavily overgrown, and there is no formal access. The honest advice is to view it from the road.

Planter family, 16th-17th century

The Giffords

The family most associated with Castlejordan castle are the Giffords, who acquired the lands during the Tudor and Stuart confiscations rather than building the place. By the time of the Civil Survey in the 1650s a Protestant Gifford held most of the parish land on the Meath side. In 1642, during the rebellion, the castle was attacked while a Sir J. Gifford held it; in 1661 Thomas Gifford was created the first baronet. The ruin is the physical remnant of their power on this border, long after the De Courcy name had stuck to the place.

Church of Ireland c. 1823, Holy Trinity c. 1840

Two churches and an old graveyard

The Church of Ireland church in the village was built around 1823 (a contemporary account puts it at 1826, costing just over six hundred pounds with a loan from the Board of First Fruits). It is now largely a ruin. The Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity, built around 1840, is still in use and serves the parish. The graveyard on the older church site was in use long before either building went up - some of the grave slabs are said to date back to the sixteenth century, which is the deepest visible thread of continuity in the village.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The castle and the Mongagh bridge Walk down to the stone bridge over the River Mongagh where the castle ruin stands. The two towers and the circular stair-turret are visible from the road; the bawn area is fenced and private. Boggy, low-lying border country - bring boots if you leave the tarmac, and respect that the ground around the ruin is someone's farm and house.

Short roadside strolldistance

15-20 minutestime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Drier ground and longer light make the roadside look at the castle worthwhile. The surrounding bogland greens up.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Best chance of seeing the ruin clearly before the ivy and summer growth swallow the lower towers.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Quiet farming country at its most settled. Fine if you are passing between Kinnegad and Edenderry.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Low-lying border bogland, short days, little shelter. Nothing here is worth a wet winter detour.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Expecting a managed heritage site

The castle is not an attraction. It is a privately owned ruin next to a working house, overgrown and uninterpreted, with no car park, signage or access. View it from the road and leave it at that.

A day out in the village itself

Castlejordan is a crossroads of around eighty-five people with a church, a school, a post office and a pub. There is no cafe, no shop strip, no visitor centre. Scale your expectations to the place.

Getting there.

By car

From Kinnegad: roughly 5 km / 3 miles south-west on local roads (the old Trim-to-Philipstown line). From the M6, leave at Junction 2 and follow the Ballinabrackey road. Edenderry in Co. Offaly is about 15 minutes south. There is no public transport into the village.