Ireland · Restored
Bargy Castle
Caisleán Uí Bhairrche
Bargy Castle is a Norman fortress near Tomhaggard in County Wexford, Ireland, built around a square keep with later wings. Two perpendicular wings were added in the 15th and 17th centuries; the keep and additions survive and have been renovated. The castle sits in parkland approached by a long drive and retains a small funerary mausoleum sited by the main entrance.
Its prime
1660
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1660
What Bargy Castle looked like in its prime.
A broad, square stone keep with crenellated parapets forms the core, to which two rectangular wings project at right angles, producing an L-shaped plan. Walls are of local grey stone with vertically aligned rectangular windows in the wings and narrower slit openings in the keep. The roofline is defined by battlements and a taller tower at one corner. The castle stands within lawns and scattered trees reached by a gravel drive, with a small freestanding mausoleum positioned directly before the main entrance.
Its story
The story of Bargy Castle.
The Rossiters of Bargy and the Forfeiture of 1667
Bargy Castle is a Norman fortress standing some 12 kilometres south-west of Wexford town, near the village of Tomhaggard in the Barony of Bargy. The place-name descends from the Ui Bhairrche, a local tribe. At its core is a square keep, to which two wings were added at right angles across the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries; the keep itself has been renovated several times.
From the fifteenth century the castle was held by the Rossiter family. Their tenure ended in 1667, when it was confiscated in response to Rossiter's part in the defence of Wexford. It was granted instead to William Ivory, who sold it on to the Harveys.
Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, the Rebellion of 1798 and the Barracks to 1808
Bargy came down the Harvey line to Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey, who commanded the Wexford insurgents in the Wexford Rebellion of 1798. The rising was suppressed and Harvey was executed on Wexford bridge. The castle was confiscated a second time and used as a barracks until 1808, after which it was handed back to Bagenal's brother James.
Neglect and Repair under the Later Harveys, 1808–1945
James Harvey lived in London and let the castle deteriorate. On his death it passed to Councillor John Harvey, who restored it; he died in 1880 and lies entombed in a mausoleum in front of the hall door. The castle was afterwards let to a Mr Leared, who re-roofed and improved it.
The last of the family to own Bargy were James Harvey and his wife Henrietta, whose daughter Antoinette was born in the castle in 1945.
The Davisons, the Gelignite and the Hotel Licence, 1960–1961
In 1960 Bargy was bought by Colonel Charles Davison, father of Chris de Burgh, and the family moved in on 1 December. Within three weeks of occupation, on 18 December, Chris and his older brother Richard were exploring a secret passage in a tower within the castle when they discovered explosives, among them sticks of gelignite and gunpowder. Judging by the paper wrapping the gelignite, their father reckoned it had been made in Glasgow in 1880.
In July 1961 a licence was granted to Maeve Davison, née de Burgh, to run the castle as a hotel, which she did alongside her husband and her father, Eric de Burgh.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1660.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Bargy Castle, including 2 interiors: tower interior: narrow passage, main hall (inside the entrance). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Bargy Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1660, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Bargy Castle.
The families that held Bargy Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Rossiter
Occupied by the Rossiter family from the 15th century until confiscated by Cromwell in 1667.
Bought from William Ivory by the Harveys, who restored the castle; James Harvey was the last of the family to own it.
