Jordan Clan
Jordan d’ Exeter a Norman, built his Baronial Castle at Ballylahan. Ballylahan is one of the smallest Norman castles of the thirteenth century in Ireland and also one of the most north westerly, though of its history almost nothing is known (Harbison 2002). Of the surviving parts of the outer wall the north western quadrant is very angular in plan, suggesting provision for cross-firing but the main surviving defence is the double towered gateway in the south eastern quadrant. This is the subject of Bigari’s drawing- no. 2122TX(3), p16 in the National Library. The Norman baronies followed along the boundary lines of the Old Gaelic tuathas, thus the Tuatha of the O’Connors became the Barony of Carra, while that of the O’Gara’s formed the Barony of Gallen. De Exeter saw the advantage of building his castles convenient to a river in the event of an enemy attack and each within commuting distance of each other. The Jordan’s decedents called MacStephens built the Tower House at Currane Ballyvary (Harbison 2002).
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