The Kavanaghs occupied the land since before the Norman invasion of Ireland until Dullough, the western part of the barony of Idrone, was sold to James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormond.

[1] The Castle was built by Sir Edmund sometime in the 15th century to defend an area along the River Barrow and the extensive woodlands along the side of Killeshin hill.

After Edmund's death in c. 1585, Elizabeth reversed the attainder on his eldest son Piers, who was granted ancestral lands in Roscrea, County Tipperary.

[3] In 1602, Elizabeth also reversed the attainder on Sir Edmund's last remaining legitimate son,[c] Theobald, the heir presumptive to his uncle's earldom of Ormond.

His widow, who inherited his considerable debts, married Sir Richard Preston, Lord Dingwall (a favourite of the King) the following year, shortly before her father's death.