Ireland · Still standing
Ballymore Castle
Ballymore Castle is a historic Irish tower house and attached residence at Lawrencetown, County Galway. Originating as a late-16th-century tower house, a house was added in 1620 and the building was substantially modernised in 1815 with a two-storey bow-fronted house. The site sat near Lough Seudy and remained an occupied country residence through the 19th century.
Its prime
1815
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1815
What Ballymore Castle looked like in its prime.
A tall, rectangular multi-storey stone tower of a medieval tower-house stands attached to an early 19th-century two-storey house; the house’s central curved bow and fanlighted doorway form the principal front. The masonry is rough‑faced local stone in grey-brown tones; the tower rises higher than the house, giving a stepped silhouette. The castle sits as a riverside/loughland estate beside Lough Seudy; at its prime the tower and the attached Georgian house are complete and occupied.
Its story
The story of Ballymore Castle.
Ballymore Castle at Lawrencetown, County Galway, began as a tower house of the O'Maddens. In 1585 John Lawrence built the castle on land acquired through his marriage to a daughter of O'Madden, Lord of Longford, and in 1603 his eldest son Walter married Cecily Moore, granddaughter of Richard Burke, 2nd Earl of Clanricarde. A house was added to the tower in 1620.
During the Williamite wars Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan, sent Ulick Burke, 1st Viscount Galway, to hold Ballymore. It later passed, on Newcomen's death, to his stepson Nicholas Cusack of Cushinstown, who sold it to John Eyre of Eyrecourt about 1720. The building was substantially modernised in 1815 with a two-storey bow-fronted house; the estate, leased for a time by the Seymour family, was inherited by their relative Hale after a large portion had gone to the Irish Land Commission.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1815.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Ballymore Castle — including 2 interiors: upper room with commemorative marble chimneypiece, entrance vestibule behind the fanlighted doorway. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Ballymore Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1815 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Ballymore Castle.
The families that held Ballymore Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
O'Madden
The original tower house belonged to the O'Maddens, Lords of Longford.
John Lawrence built the castle in 1585 on land acquired by marriage to a daughter of O'Madden; his heirs added the house in 1620.
Eyre
Bought by John Eyre of Eyrecourt about 1720.
