castles historical ireland

A well-preserved tower-house of 15th century date. It has four storeys, and the bottom one is vaulted. There are also some nicely carved trefoil-headed windows. There is a fine 'murder-hole' above the door enabling the defenders to drop things on the heads of intruders. One of the unusual features of the castle are the two turrets, one containing stairs, the other a lavatory, which project from the sides of two diagonally opposite corners....

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...

Castle: This Norman castle may have been built on an earlier ringfort by the main bridge across the Maigue or it may be contemporary. The square tower is of the castle is surrounded by a rampart with battlements To the south a drawbridge crosses the fort’s ditch. Surrounding this ditch is a further wall. Two gates offered access through it, the obviously more strategic south one protected by two towers.

Franciscan Friary: Now surrounded by the Adare Manor golf course, this friary was...

Situated on an outcrop of rock ('The Fairy Rock'), this is a 16th century tower of 4 storeys below a vaulted roof. There are turrets on opposing corners at the top.

It was built by the MacCarthys of Drishane, and Teig MacCarthy retired here after the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, but O'Sullivan Bere attacked and sacked the castle shortly afterwards.
There is also a stone circle two fields to the eat of the castle....

Shanes Castle, the family seat of the O'Neills of Clanaboy, is magnificently situated at the North East corner of Lough Neagh with commanding views over the length and breadth of the Lough. Although the castle has been in ruins since the fire of 1816, the remaining structure including a unique Camellia House is a substantial feature in the landscape.

There has been a Feral herd of fallow deer at Shanes Castle for many years. Shanes Castle Demesne is one of the most beautiful and well...

In this area you can take in spectacular cliff scenery on the walk from Rosscarbery Bay.
The ruined Castlefreke Castle built in 1641 is in the area....

Blossom Gate. This is the only gate remaining from the medieval town wall of Kilmallock.
The Collegiate Church. The Round Tower of this church may have originally been part of an earlier monastery. The probably 13th century church has three aisles, a chancel and it’s south wall contains a 13th century door. It’s use as by the Church of Ireland had a bearing on the history of the Earls of Desmond; being the place where the ‘Sugan’ Earl surrendered in 1600 and where the 15th Earl attended a...

The first 'Belfast Castle' was built by the Normans in the late 12th century. On the same site a stone and timber castle was erected in 1611. This home of Sir Arthur Chichester, baron of Belfast, was burned down in 1708 leaving only street names (eg Castle Place) to mark this site....

This is a well-preserved four-storey tower with good fireplaces on the three upper floors. The two-and-three-mullioned windows, and the oval hole at the bottom of the stairs, were probably copied from Portumna Castle nearby, which had only recently been built.

The tower forms part of an L-shaped bawn with rounded turrets at opposite corners. On the corbels of the turret at the north-eastern corner of the tower is the inscription 'D': OM ME: FIERI: FECIT: 1643' which states that a man...

The castle was founded by Roger de Peppard in 1207, but much of the present building does not go back beyond the 15th century. In the 15th and 16th centuries it was used for attacks on Ulster, and two English Lord Deputies, Stanley (1414) and the White Earl of Ormond (1452), died here on such expeditions. After the Restoration, it was granted to Theobald Taffe, Earl of Carlingford....