castles historical ireland

The remnants of a once great Norman castle built either by the Marshalls or the Fitzgeralds. A castle is mentioned in 1203 as already existing, but this probably refers to an earlier castle here. O'More burned the castle in 1346, and in 1422 O'Dempsey captured it from the Earl of Kildare. The O'Dempseys retained the castle until it was taken from them in 1452 by the Earl of Ormond. Silken Thomas Fitzgerald retreated here during his rebellion in 1535.

In 1556 it was mortgaged for...

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 The upper floors were originally made of wood, and the holes for the massive beams supporting them are still visible in the walls.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...

King John's Castle: Allegedly founded by King John who stayed here for three days in 1210, the castle may have been begun some years previously by Hugh de Lacy. The semicircular western half of the castle was probably built before King John's visit. This curving wall, which enclosed an open courtyard, had two-storey buildings leaning against its inner face; the entrance, on the west side, was flanked by two rectangular towers (only parts of the northern tower remain) and at the south-wester...

A few miles north of Enniscrone is the ruined stronghold of the MacFirbis clan, renowned Gaelic poets and annalists.

It was a member of this leaned family who compiled the 'Book of Lecan' (AD 1416) now in the library of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin....

The remains of a square castle with rounded turrets at the corners and surrounded by a moat.
Although in the style of the castles of the 13th century, it was built in the 15th or 16th century, probably by the Cogans from whom it was acquired by the Earls of Desmond....

Trim is a town which was founded by the Normans on the banks of the Boyne and few towns in Ireland contain more medieval buildings than it. These buildings are as follows:

Castle:
The first fortification on the site was a motte with a timber tower, erected by Hugh de Lacy in 1172 as a first step towards the conquest of Meath. He left Hugh Tyrell in charge of it. But Roderick O'Connor, King of Connacht, thought himself threatened by its existence, and he marched agains...

Classiebawn Castle which overlooks the charming resort of Mullaghmore, was the property of Viscount Palmerston, British Statesman and Prime Minister, who also built the harbour here.

The castle was completed by the first Lord Mount Temple in 1874 and later descended to the Moutbattens. Now privatedly owned and not open to the public....

One of the few examples of a type of haled castle used in the 13th and 14th centuries, this castle was probably built by the Archbolds in the 13th century. Although rather ruined, sufficient remains to show that the ground floor was roofed by a continuous barrel vault, and imprints of the original plank shuttering can still be seen. The upper storey was divided into a number of rooms with large or small windows....

Remains consist of square gatehouse of two storeys....

Kirkistown Castle built by Roland Savagh in 1622. The castle is in fact a tower house, one of the fortified private homes built from the fifteenth to the early seventeenth century by local landlords often as a protection from each other. This one has the remains of a bawn round it. The Savage family were the Norman landlords of the 'Little Ardes' and they built many of these small castles. Portaferry Castle is known to be an earlier one of theirs, erected in 1500....