Coolalough House, also known as Bracca Castle, close to the village of Horseleap is named on both the first six inch and 25 inch OS maps as Coolalough. The first edition six inch map shows a castle in the townland. The estate was granted to the Handy Family in the mid-seventeenth century. Coolalough House was later a base for the Methodists in the area. Wesley records in his letters in 1785 that the Handy Family had recently built a new property at Coolalough, apparently (re)named Bracca Castle (boi). Samuel W Handy was occupying Bracca Castle in 1814 and Samuel Handy is listed as the owner of Bracca Castle in 1837. By the time of Griffith’s Valuation (publ. 1854) Joseph Hackett was occupying the house, valued at £10 and held from the representatives of Samuel W Handy. Home of Katherina Lett, a married lady, and two servants in 1911. This house is no longer extant, a green field site.
Coolalough farmyard complex (National Built Heritage Service)
