Beneath this house lie the ruins of Athboy Castle. The castle, built in 1180 by the Normans, guarded the approach to the town from the west. Folklore tells us that the lane to the side of the house is the original street of Athboy which ran at right angles to the present day Main Street. Still surviving underground here are vaults and tunnels which were used in the middle ages to store wine. Galway merchants carried on an extensive business importing French and Spanish wines which were then transported to Athboy, their entry point of choice to The Pale, for onward sale to markets in Dublin, Drogheda and the east coast. The Athboy Castle was demolished sometime in the 1700s.
The history of the ordinary person
Athboy 100 