Ballynahinch Castle and Lake
Between Roundstone and Recess, where the N59 skirts a long lake under the last of the Twelve Bens, a country house of 1754 sits in ancient woodland. Ballynahinch has been O'Flaherty land, the home of the MP who founded the world's first animal welfare society, and the Irish retreat of an Indian prince who played Test cricket for England. It is now a hotel that sells walks, shooting and the salmon and sea trout of its own river.
Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.
Lisa Harbin, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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O'Flahertys and Grace O'Malley
The O'Flahertys ruled Iar Connacht from the fourteenth century, and Dónal Ó Flaithbheartaigh built a small castle beside the lake around 1546, about the time he married Grace O'Malley, whose family alliance widened his lands; she became in effect the head of the family. The present house dates from 1754 and has been altered many times without losing its shape. Richard Martin, Humanity Dick, 1754 to 1834, MP for County Galway and founder of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, lived here.
Ranji
In 1924 Ranjitsinhji, the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar and a Test batsman for England, rented the castle for the fishing, fell in love with it and bought the house, estate and fisheries from the Berridge family. He put money into cottage industries and local businesses, employed more than fifty people improving the estate, and came every year from India until his death in 1933.
The lake
Ballynahinch Lake is about 4 km long and 1 km wide, 10 km east of Clifden, with Benlettery at 557 metres directly above it. Derryclare Lough feeds it at the eastern end, taking water from Lough Inagh, and it drains south through the short Owenmore or Ballynahinch River into Bertraghboy Bay; salmon and brown trout run it, and it lies within the Twelve Bens and Garraun Special Area of Conservation. Roundstone and Errisbeg are pinned on the model with the castle grounds to the north.
Questions people ask
Can you stay at Ballynahinch Castle?
Who was Humanity Dick?
Who was Ranji of Ballynahinch?
Written from Wikipedia, "Ballynahinch Castle" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.