castles historical ireland

This is a 15th or 16th century castle built by the Burnchurch branch of the FitzGerald family. It is 6 storeys high, and has an unusually large number of passages and chambers inside the walls. There is a 'secret chamber' off the 4th floor and a fireplace and round chimney (the latter possibly a later addition) on the top floor. A walled courtyard was originally attached to the castle, and of this the 41 foot high circular turret near the castle still remains. The castle was last occupied in...

Slade castle was built in two stages. The first was the tower at the northern end, built probably by one of the Laffan family in the late 15th or early 16th century. The tower is 56 feet high and is battlemented, and there is a fireplace and a cupboard in a room on the third storey.

The second stage was the addition of a house in the 16th or early 17th century. The house is not as high as the tower and has simple moulded windows on the first floor.

At the east end of the ho...

Some 7km along the road to Tuam, near Castletown House, is the site of the ancestral home of the Lally's, Tollendal (of Tullynadaly) Castle.
One member of the family, the celebrated Baron Lally, Marechal de France, made strenuous attempts to drive the English from India.
He failed and was executed by Louis xv as a traitor, but afterwards his name was cleared, and is inscribed in the Arch De Triomphe in Paris....

The castle was probably built by Theobald Walter Butler some time early in the 13th century, and the Butlers still owned it in 1640. the castle is square in plan with rounded turrets at the corner, but only one storey of the original three or four remain. The tower on the north-east is only enterable by steps up from the outside. The interior of the castle was divided into two apartments by dividing wall. Access to the castle is by foot only, as it's located on private land.

In t...

The kernel of the castle is a stout mid-13th century keep, almost square in plan and with walls more than 6 feet thick. The upper floors were originally made of wood, and the holes for the massive beams supporting them are still visible in the walls.

The keep is protected by an irregularly shaped curtain wall, and the corners of the stretch overlooking the river are further fortified by round turrets.

On the landward side, the gate-house of the 13th century castle was incorpor...

Although tradition says that it was the Ormonds who built it in the 14th century, the oldest part of the castle dates back to the 13th century. The oldest parts are the three round turrets and their joining curtain wall overlooking the river. These formed part of the outer fortifications of the original castle which surrounded a square enclosure in the centre. The tall square tower was built possibly in the 14th century, but has 15th century additions. The oriel window high up in its south w...

Kinsale can easily claim its place amongst Ireland's most historic locations for this has been a centre of population, commerce, trade and fishing far beyond memory and record.

In its earliest days the estuary of the Bandon River gave it great importance as the river is tidal as far as Innishannon and water transport was dominant until the 18th Century.
The estuary also provided excellent anchorage for ancient shipping which went in peril of the vagaries of the weather.

T...

Once a flourishing medieval town, Clonmines still contains the remains of some of its old buildings. The town was given a charter by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, early in the 13th century, and the Kavanagh family founded an Abbey here for the Augustinian Eremites which was 'beautified' and enlarged in 1385.

The town was destroyed in 1400, but rose again. Although it scarcely survived the 17th century, it continued to send members to Parliament up till 1800. Nevertheless, as l...

The ruins of 13th century tower house stand at the foot of the famed Knockma. It was built by the Hacketts, a Norman family who established themselves along the east side of Lough Corrib, having driven the O' Flahertys across the lake to Connemara. The Kirwans, one of the tribes of Galway settled there in the 15th century....

King John's Castle was built between 1200 and 1210 and was repaired and extended many times in the following centuries. The visitor centre at the castle contains an imaginative historical exhibition which tells the story of the castle. Archaeological excavations have revealed Pre-Norman settlements and evidence from the traumatic siege of 1642.

The courtyard and castle display some of the trades and traditions of the 16th century with the aid of costumed characters. The castle offers pan...