lea castle

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 £500 and 600 ounces of silver plate by the Earl of Kildare to Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Lackagh, and was leased to Robert Bath in 1618. It changed hands a number of times in the 1640s, and the Confederates used it as a mint before the Cromwellians took it in 1650. Although it passed through various private hands after that, it was never afterwards used as a fortification. The castle itself is square in plan with three quarters round towers at the corners; it stands within an oval-shaped area, which is still partly surrounded by a wall with wall-walks.

The tower consisted of a basement and three storeys, and the entrance was in the first floor.