It is also located approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) away from the border with County Armagh, which is part of Northern Ireland.

The Castle Shane Estate, the former country estate in the area, was originally owned by Francis Lucas, eldest son of Henry Lucas and his second wife Alyce Bradocke.

However, the castle was largely rebuilt for Francis Lucas, probably in the late Elizabethan style, around 1591.

This was the architectural style chosen when the castle was rebuilt as a country house for the Lucas-Scudamore dynasty, beginning in 1836.

Castle Shane (the country house) consisted of a four-storey tower with corner bartizans and a main three storey block.