The townland was formerly the property of James Stack, of the Stack family well-known to the area, reflected in the townland name of Stack's Mountain adjacent to Gortclohy. He supported the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Confederation of Kilkenny in the Irish Confederate Wars. This resulted in his land being taken by Cromwell's forces following the Act for the Settlement of Ireland in 1652. In 1666, Henry Ponsonby, a 46-year-old former soldier who fought for Cromwell, was granted the land after the Act of Settlement of 1662.