Originally of motte-and-bailey design, it was a timber castle on an earthen mound, nearby were located the church and tenant dwellings.

A local priest, Father Patrick Dunne, arranged for 400 people to be taken to Australia on a ship named the Erin-go-Bragh, which took a record 25 weeks to reach Moreton Bay; 51 passengers died en route.

[7] Following the evictions, Lord Digby carried out extensive improvements in the 1860s and 1870s and many of the current buildings around the triangular green date from this time.

The Kings County Directory recorded that Digby had "converted the village of Geashill into what it now is, one of the neatest, cleanest and best kept in Ireland".

He was awarded the gold medal for three years by the Royal Agricultural Society, for improving the greatest number of cottages in the best manner in the province of Leinster.

[11] The local Gaelic Athletic Association club, Raheen GAA,[12] won the Offaly Intermediate Football Championship in 1981 and 2014.