Believed to be the oldest surviving structure in the town of Moate, Moate Castle dates back to the 1500s. Originally constructed as a defensive residence, it has stood through centuries of social and political upheaval. In the 1780s, the castle underwent substantial renovation and expansion. Now a private residence, as of 2025, the building is currently listed for sale—though its storied past may give some prospective buyers pause.

One of the most chilling legends associated with Moate Castle appears in the Dúchas Schools’ Folklore Collection, recounting the grim fate of a former landlord said to haunt the property:

Years ago, there lived in the Castle of Moate a Protestant landlord who was cruel and unjust. He forcibly evicted numerous tenant families and had their homes demolished without mercy. After his death, strange things began to occur.

The story goes that the landlord’s restless spirit began appearing to townspeople. In one particularly violent encounter, a man riding his horse near the Carmelite Church was suddenly struck down by an unseen force. He fell from his mount and was killed instantly—his neck broken.

Local clergy soon linked these disturbances to the landlord’s spirit, claiming he had not found peace in death and was doomed to wander, tormented by his misdeeds. One priest even declared that the man’s soul was in hell. Upon hearing this, the landlord’s son confronted the priest, threatening him with death unless he could prove the claim.

What followed is the stuff of gothic legend.

The priest led the son to a secluded room and—through a ritual or prayer—revealed the apparition of the landlord himself, bound in chains, rising from the floor. Terrified, they summoned the local Protestant parson to intervene, but the parson failed to banish the ghost.

In desperation, the priest was called upon once again. This time, he succeeded in trapping the spirit within the castle, locking it inside a specific room, and sealing the door—with strict orders that it never be opened again.

To this day, according to the story, the sound of chains rattling within the sealed chamber can still be heard—an eerie reminder of a landlord’s cruelty and a priest’s reluctant exorcism.