Ballyroan Castle

Ballyroan is a County Laois place name most commonly explained as deriving from Irish Baile Uí Ruáin, 'homestead of the Ó Ruáin (Ruan) family', though Béal Átha Ruáin, 'mouth of the ford of Ruan', has also been suggested — neither could be independently confirmed for this entry. The castle is a tower house of the kind built across the Irish midlands between the thirteenth and seventeenth centu...