John D'Arcy (1785–1839), founder of Clifden, had this house constructed for himself and his family even while he was busy building up the town.

The Castle dates from around 1818 and served as the main dwelling of the large D'Arcy family for the next decades.

Hunger, starvation and fever incapacitated large numbers of people as the potato crop failed.

[1]: 11–15  On 21 September 1846, Hyacinth D'Arcy's tenants gathered en masse on his front lawn, begging for work or food.

[1]: 15  Thomas and Charles Eyre, brothers from Bath, bought the Castle, and most of the town and surrounding lands for 21,245 pounds.

[1]: 130  Thomas Eyre eventually bought Charles' share and on 16 July 1864, two years before his own death,[4] gave the Castle and the Clifden estates as a present to his nephew, John Joseph Eyre of Saint John's Wood, London.

[1]: 15 The Eyre family were absentee landlords, but used Clifden Castle through John Joseph's death on 15 April 1894.

[1]: 130 [3] After his death, a trust was set up to administer his estate,[4] which included considerable holdings in Britain and elsewhere.

The castle fell into disrepair, the demesne was leased out for grazing to locals as attempts by the agents to sell the property were unsuccessful.

The local Catholic priest, Canon Patrick McAlpine, started a "severe and sometimes violent"[1]: 167  campaign against "the underhanded way" of the purchase.

Farmers drove Joyce's cattle from his land, put their own stock on his fields and barricaded the gates against him.

A town meeting on the issue resulted in a scuffle, stones thrown at the police and injured policemen.

Only after a Sinn Féin arbitration court suggested an agreement in September 1920 did Joyce agree to sell the land.