castles historical ireland

Mountjoy Castle is a ruined fort with four rectangular corner towers not far from Washing Bay. It was built in 1602 and was garrisoned during the Willianite wars....

Marino Crescent where Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, was born in 1847.
Clontarf, a short distance down the road, was the scene of the famous battle of Good Friday, 1014, when Brian Boru broke the power of the Danes over Ireland.

Brian himself was slain during the battle while praying in his tent. Clontarf Castle (1835) was built on the site of an ancient Pale fortification which had belonged successively to the Templars and to the Knights of St John....

A 16th century MacNamara Castle, right off the road leading from Newmarket to Sixmilebridge, 1km further on you turn left and travel another 1km to the site.

The castle has long been unoccupied, but the estate, then the property of the Vandeleur family, became celebrated in the 19th century as the site of a rural co-operative enterprise, initiated by the then landlord, John Scott Vandeleur, as a means of dealing with the militancy of his refractory tenants. He introduced English expert...

TITLED/UNTITLED, the current exhibition at Lismore Castle, Co Waterford, Ireland is an unusual collaborative exhibition bringing together work from the Devonshire Collection and Rubell Family Collection based in Miami; works from the Devonshire Collection having been selected by the Rubell Family, while pieces from the Rubell Collection were selected by William and Laura Burlington.

The complex relationships that exist between the collector, the artwork and the passage of time are ex...

Ross Castle is located at the Edge of Lough Leane in Killarney National Park, just outside Killarney town in County Kerry. The castle is a typical example of the stronghold of an Irish Chieftain during the Middle Ages. The date of its foundation is unsure but it was probably built in the late 15th century by one of the O'Donoghue Ross Chieftains.
You can take a boat trip from the lake shore at the Castle out onto the Killarney lakes, where you are guaranteed to see some of the most breat...

At the pier there are the remains of a MacMahon castle, captured in 1599 by the Earl of Thomond and given to his brother, Donal O'Brien, ancestor of the viscounts Clare of Clare's Dragons fame. (The Dragoons were part of the late 17th and 18th century Irish Brigade - composed of Irish exiles - in the French Army). When the property was confiscated after the Williamite wars, Carraigaholt Castle and part of the estate passed to the Burton family....

The family home of the Earls of Belmore, Castle Coole is one of the treasures of the National Trust. A magnificent neo-classical house designed by James Wyatt, has remarkably fine interiors and exquisite furniture and furnishing from before 1830. A lavish Regency Saloon with gilded mirrors and marvellous inlaid woodwork is rivalled by a lavish state bedroom, hung with crimson silk, said to have been prepared for George IV.

Impressive halls, staircase, a dining room of splendour an...

This beautiful park is wovan around the lake and islands of Lough Oughter. A number of marked trails range in length from 1.5km to 2.8km, each offering enchanted views and a diversity of habitat for the wild fauna.

Norway and Sitka spruce are the main tree species with a considerable amount of mixed woodland, including ash, oak, birch, sycamore, beech and alder. Stoat, badger, fox, grey squirrrel, hedgehog and rabbit are among the variety of fauna which can be spotted here.

The t...

A castle probably erected by John Rosseter who was made Seneschal of the Liberties of Wexford in 1451, and whose family remained Catholics although they recognised Henry VIII in the 16th century. The tower stands in the south-eastern corner of a well-preserved bawn. The tower is five storeys high, and has battlements which are typical of the 15th and 16th centuries in Ireland.

The bawn wall is about 4 feet thick and 24 feet high, with a round turret at the north-eastern corner and a l...

Just a few kms south of Drogheda lies Gormanstown Castle. Built in 1768 by Sir Jelico Preston on the site of the original Castle dating from 1372, the castle has a fine quadrangular castellated edifice and a turret adorns each of the castle's corners except for the north-west corner.
In legends it was said that when the head of the Gormanston family was on his dead bed, all the foxes of Meath would to the come and sit by the front door of the castle as a vigil until his lordship had passe...