maynooth castle

the castle was probably begun by Gerald Fitzgerald, Baron of Offaly, in 1203. the main tower, one of the largest of its kind, was built in three successive phases, but the vaults on the ground floor were added probably long after the rest of the tower had been completed. The inside of the tower was divided into two main rooms for each floor, as at Trim, Co. Meath, and the walls are preserved almost to the top where fragments of the original turret at the northeastern angle can still be seen. The tower stood in an enclosure which was surrounded by a curtain wall, of which the main entrance gate (present entrance to castle), parts of the south-eastern tower (much restored in 16th - 17th century) and the north-eastern tower as well as much of the eastern and northern portions of the wall itself remain. the arches in the east wall mark the site of a large hall which was used up till the 17th century. In 1328 the castle had two gates; one leading to the tower, the other to the garden. It was enlarged in 1426 by John, 6th Earl of Kildare.