castles historical ireland

This is a fine early 16th century tower standing in a bawn. The ground and third floors are vaulted, and there are mullioned windows and a fine fireplace on the 3rd floor. The six-sided bawn is one of the best preserved in the country, and the projecting angle in the west wall, constructed so as to have a wider range of fire, is probably imitated from the star-shaped forts. Nearby are the ruins of a contemporary gatehouse.

The castle was one of three built and owned by the O'Shaughne...

Known as the Castle of the Curlews, this castle was built around 1590 to protect the pass over the Curlew Hills. It was garrisoned by a Constable and ten wardens from 1610 to 1626 and, after a stout resistance, had to surrender in 1641 due to lack of water.

The plan of the castle is modelled on those of 13th century castles, with a small central square block dwarfed by four massive towers at the corners which are round outside and square inside....

Buncrana Castle dates from the early 17th century but has not survived the test of time very well. It now stands in ruin, a mere shadow of its once magniciant self. It still gives an excellent impression of what it was once like....

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....

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...

Shankill Castle is set in beautiful parkland on the Carlow/Kilkenny border this castellated house incorporates a building from 1713. The interior preserves much of its 18th century character and features a late Georgian staircase, Gothic plasterwork in the dining room and a charmingly Victorian drawing room.

Visitors are invited to walk in the grounds and gardens, and there are guided tours of the house.

Parties and coach tours are welcome at other times by prior arrangeme...

Ballindooley Castle, on the Headford road out from Galway, has been fully restored to its former glory....

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....

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...

History is built layer upon layer at Lismore which means 'great fort' in Irish. Prince John built the original castle there in 1185. The Bishops of Lismore Built an episcopal palace on its ruins and the estate was granted for a time to Walter Raleigh for a rent of IR12 p.a. He sold the property to Richard Boyle, later 1st Earl of Cork, who rebuilt the castle, parts of which are incorporated in the present castle built in the mid-19th century by the 6th Duke of Devonshire. The 1st Earl of Cork...