clogh oughter

Clogh Oughter is unusual in being a round 13th century castle, built on an island in Lough Oughter. It was probably begun by William Gorm de Lacy around 1220, and to this period may be ascribed the masonry of the two lower floors.

It was presumably built up to its full height during the following two centuries when it served as a stronghold of the O'Reilly clan, either in their own dynastic struggles or as a defence against their traditional foes, the O'Rourkes of Breifne, until taken for King James 1 by Sir Richard Wingfield in 1607.

Three years later, as part of the Plantation of Ulster, the castle was granted to Capt. Hugh Culme who, however, lived in a house on the lakeshore while repairing the defences of the castle. On the very first day of the 1641 Rebellion, the castle was re-taken by the O'Reillys, and Culme was taken prisoner, to be joined shortly afterwards by Bishop Bedell of Kilmore.

The castle was also the last to surrender to the Cromwellians, which it did in 1653.