Clare Castle, County Armagh

There is now in building a good stone house which is fully two stories high and a number of workmen labouring for the speedy completion thereof.The bawn was designed as a sanctuary during times of trouble.

Paterson, in his observations on Clare, notes that in 1622, the house stood three stories tall but remained unfinished, with the bawn also incomplete.

One account indicates that rebels set fire to the Clare Castle and detained settlers within his mill.

During that night, a fire broke out in the house, as reported in the newspaper: On Monday night or Tuesday morning, the fine house of Clare Castle, near Tandragee, was totally destroyed by fire, every article of furniture, plate, jewels etc was also burnt, the family escaping barely with their lives.

The accident, it is thought, was occasioned by some sparks from a chimney falling on the roof, which was covered with shingles.Local tradition suggests that there were no children in the house on the night of the fire and that the "ghostly warning cry", which alerted the inhabitants, was that of a child who reputedly died in the castle amid the turmoil of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.