It is uncertain who had originally built the castle, possibly Sir Domhnall (Donald) O'Brien or Donough MacDonall O'Conor of Corcomroe.

On the death of their only son Andrew Finucane in 1843,[5] the house was inherited by his brother-in-law William Nugent Macnamara of Doolin, who died in 1856 at the age of eighty-one.

His son Francis, an army captain and a lieutenant-colonel in the Clare Militia, moved into the house with his wife in 1863 and added a west wing.

In 1919, during the War of Independence, he was ambushed near Leamaneh Castle for actively supporting the old order,[3]: 56  and received gunshot wounds to his face and arms.

[3]: 56 Henry Valentine's son Francis and his third wife Iris O'Callaghan-Westropp regained possession of Ennistymon House in the 1930s and converted it into the Falls Hotel.