Standing above Lough Muckno on the edge of Castleblayney, Hope Castle has seen four centuries of change, decline, and renewal.

The land was first granted in 1607 to Sir Edward Blayney, a Welsh soldier in the service of King James I, who built a fortified house known as Blayney Castle. The surrounding settlement took his name, becoming the modern town of Castleblayney. The Blayney family remained here until the early 19th century.

In the 1780s, Cadwallader Davis Blayney, 11th Baron Blayney, commissioned a new mansion near the site of the old castle. In 1853 the estate was purchased by Henry Thomas Hope, of the London banking family renowned for the Hope Diamond. Hope extensively remodeled the building and gave it the name Hope Castle. His daughter Henrietta Adela Hope later inherited the property and married the Duke of Newcastle.

Through the 20th century, the house served several purposes — as a military barracks during the War of Independence, a hospital in the 1930s, and a Franciscan convent from the 1940s until the early 1970s. It was later acquired by Monaghan County Council, leased to private tenants, and operated as a hotel until 2010, when an arson attack destroyed much of the interior. The building remains vacant and derelict today.

Hope Castle’s long and varied history — from fortress to convent to burned-out ruin — has led many locals to consider it haunted.

There are no verified historical accounts of specific apparitions or recorded hauntings, but the site is often described in online discussions and travel reviews as atmospheric and ghostly, particularly since the 2010 fire. One visitor review referred to it simply as “haunted after it was burnt down.” Elsewhere, a commenter said that room 27 was particularly haunted and that the juke box would play music on it’s own. Another said the building was haunted by a woman, although exact details were unknown.

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