castles historical around portlaoise

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...