Irish Castles

HarperCollins Publishers

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Bishopbriggs

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G64 2QT

First Edition 2020

© HarperCollins Publishers 2020

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Author: Orna Mulcahy

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Print Edition ISBN 978-0-00-834822-9

eBook Edition © October 2019 ISBN 978-0-00-837822-6

Version: 2019-11-08

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Location Maps

Northern Ireland

West Central Ireland

Southwestern Ireland

East Central Ireland

Southeastern Ireland

Castles

An Culu

Ardgillan Castle

Ardo Castle

Ashford Castle

Askeaton Castle

Athenry Castle

Augher Castle

Ballea Castle

Ballinacarriga Castle

Ballinlough Castle

Ballintober Castle

Ballydonnellan Castle

Ballyhack Castle

Ballynahinch Castle

Bargy Castle

Barmeath Castle

Barretstown Castle

Barryscourt Castle

Belfast Castle

Birr Castle

Blackwater Castle

Blarney Castle

Bullock Castle

Bunratty Castle & Folk Park

Burncourt Castle

Cahir Castle

Carlingford Castle

Carnew Castle

Carrickfergus Castle

Carrigafoyle Castle

Carrigaholt Castle

Castle Bernard

Castle Hackett

Castle Matrix

Castle Pook

Castlegarde Castle

Castletown House

Classiebawn Castle

Clogh Oughter Castle

Clontarf Castle

Crom Castle

Dangan Castle

Desmond Castle

Doe Castle

Donegal Castle

Drimnagh Castle

Drishane Castle

Dromoland Castle

Dromore Castle

Dublin Castle

Dunamase Castle

Dunboy Castle and Puxley Manor

Dungarvan Castle

Dungiven Castle

Dunguaire Castle

Dunluce Castle

Dunsany Castle

Dysert O’Dea Castle

Glenveagh Castle

Glin Castle

Gosford Castle

Hatch’s Castle

Helen’s Tower

Hillsborough Castle & Gardens

Hope Castle

Howth Castle

Huntington Castle

Inchiquin Castle

Isert Kelly Castle

Jigginstown Castle

Johnstown Castle

Jordan’s Castle

Kanturk Castle

Kilcash Castle

Kilclief Castle

Kilcolman Castle

Kilkenny Castle

Killeen Castle

Killua Castle

Killymoon Castle

Kilwaughter Castle

Kinbane Castle

King John’s Castle

Knappogue Castle

Knockdrin Castle

Kylemore Abbey

Lambay Castle

Leamaneh Castle

Leap Castle

Lismore Castle

Lohort Castle

Luggala Lodge

Luttrellstown Castle

Lynch’s Castle

Macroom Castle

Malahide Castle

Mallow Castle

Manderley Castle

Manorhamilton Castle

Markree Castle

Maudlin Castle

Maynooth Castle

McDermott’s Castle

Menlo Castle

Minard Castle

Moher Tower

Monea Castle

Mongavlin Castle

Monkstown Castle

Mountgarrett Castle

Moygara Castle

Moyode Castle

Muckross House

Narrow Water Castle

Nenagh Castle

Newtown Castle

O’Brien’s Tower

O’Malley Castle

Oranmore Castle

Ormond Castle

Parkes Castle

Portaferry Castle

Portumna Castle

Quintin Castle

Redwood Castle

Rockfleet Castle

Roscrea Castle

Shane’s Castle

Slade Castle

Slane Castle

Smarmore Castle

Strancally Castle

Tandragee Castle

Thomastown Castle

Trim Castle

Tully Castle

Tullynally Castle

Waterford Castle

Photo credits

About the Author

About the Publisher

Introduction

There’s a special romance to Irish castles, whether it’s the ruined stronghold of an ancient Irish clan perched on a rocky clifftop, the monumental tower rising inside a town’s medieval walls, or the castellated fancy of a Victorian tycoon reflected in its own glassy lake.

Combined with the country’s dramatic scenery of craggy coastline, rolling green countryside, ancient woodlands, and loughs, Ireland’s most famous castles are set in dreamy locations beloved by generations of tourists, film-makers, and brides. Think of the majesty of ruined Dunluce, etched against the sky on the north Antrim coast; the thrilling bulk of Blarney Castle, home to the Blarney Stone, which is said to give those who kiss it the gift of fluent talk; or the splendour of Ashford Castle in Cong, County Mayo, the setting for film director John Ford’s sentimental tribute to Ireland, The Quiet Man, starring John Wayne.

It’s not known exactly how many castles dot the island of Ireland but it’s likely to be in thousands. A high number of fortifications reflect a rebellious history reaching back to the twelfth century and lasting all the way to the 1920s, when many of Ireland’s aristocratic homes were abandoned or burned during the War of Independence.

Ruins abound: fortresses destroyed by cannon fire tell of Cromwell’s rampage through Ireland in the late 1640s; the shells of once grand castles, built in prosperous times and then abandoned.

This book provides a guide to 140 or so Irish castles and strongholds, many of them dating back to Norman times and earlier, some of them far more recent, but all selected for their historical or architectural significance.

Some are ancient monuments, standing strong after nearly a thousand years; others mere piles of stones in once strategic settings. Many, like grand Malahide Castle on the outskirts of Dublin and Dublin Castle in the centre of the capital, have been carefully restored and are open to the public. Others can only be viewed externally and from a distance. One or two are twentieth-century replica castles, such as Doonbeg on the County Clare coast – now owned by US President Donald Trump.

Castles first appeared in Ireland with the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in the twelfth century. Land distributed by King Henry II of England was parcelled out to royalists who built fortified towers to protect themselves from the native clans. These castles were built in strategic positions, and consisted of a large square or rectangular tower, known as a keep, surrounded by a large curtain wall. Other defensive measures were a moat, portcullis and drawbridge, and battlements.

By the beginning of the thirteenth century, stone castles began to appear, many built on the orders of King John. Amongst the earliest of these is Dublin Castle, built in 1204. The fortifications of Carrickfergus in Antrim and Trim in County Meath (once known as the Royal County) also date from this period. By the middle of the century, castles had spread throughout Ireland, built by Anglo-Norman families, who quickly integrated themselves, marrying into native families and becoming Hiberniores Hibernis ipsis, meaning “more Irish than the Irish themselves”.

From 1400 onwards, native Irish chiefs began to build their own castles, adopting the tower house design, with battlements offering commanding views of their territories.

In 1429, Henry VI, King of England (and Lord of Ireland) granted ten pounds to any of his subjects who built a small defensive tower in the area surrounding Dublin – called The Pale – which included the counties of Meath, Louth, and Kildare. This resulted in a proliferation of “ten pound” castles of a fairly basic design, many of which survive today.

The Irish Rebellion of 1641 and the Confederate Wars that followed set the native Irish and old English Catholics against English Protestants and Scots Presbyterian planters in a bloody conflict through the land that saw castles seized and their occupants murdered. Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland in 1649, and subsequent conquest, quelled the rebellion with a swathe of violent conquests through the land that left many of Ireland’s castles either destroyed or confiscated and given to “planters” loyal to the English monarchy.

The 1700s saw a revival in building, with a move from the fortified tower to a more domestic style in architecture. Earlier castles were either incorporated into new country house designs or sometimes left at a distance from the new structure.

Throughout the eighteenth and particularly in the nineteenth century, many such properties were extended again, or replaced entirely, this time with the help of fortunes built in the great industrial cities of England or further afield.

The Victorian Irish had a penchant for castles, and this produced a proliferation of battlements, towers, and turrets added to homes originally built in the plain Irish Georgian style. Brand-new castles were built in the romantic style, from Kylemore Abbey in Connemara to the dramatic Glenveagh Castle in County Donegal.

But in the aftermath of the Irish Famine many estates were sold or broken up. The 1920s brought a further wave of unrest, with several great Irish homes being burned out by rebels during Ireland’s War of Independence.

Many of the castles featured in this book are open to visitors. Some operate as hotels or guest houses, while others can be viewed by appointment or on certain open days of the year. However some remain privately owned and their inclusion in this book does not imply a right of public access. It is always advisable to check with the specific attraction in advance. Telephone number and website, where available, are listed in the property description.

Location Maps

Northern Ireland

Numbers in bold indicate the page where the property can be found

The page numbers on this map relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

West Central Ireland

Numbers in bold indicate the page where the property can be found

The page numbers on this map relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

Southwestern Ireland

Numbers in bold indicate the page where the property can be found

The page numbers on this map relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

East Central Ireland

Numbers in bold indicate the page where the property can be found

The page numbers on this map relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

Southeastern Ireland

Numbers in bold indicate the page where the property can be found

The page numbers on this map relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

An Culu

DROMORE, GREENANE, KENMARE, COUNTY KERRY

A picture-perfect castle overlooking Kenmare Bay, An Culu looks like a particularly well preserved medieval castle or, at the least, a Victorian Gothic revival masterpiece, but in fact it dates from the 1990s, when it was built by an English businessman smitten with history. The first castle to be built in Ireland since Victorian times, it comes with all the architectural detail one might expect: a moat and a drawbridge, turrets and towers, a grotto-style swimming pool in the dungeon, and gas-fired torches that can be activated by remote control in the entrance. An Culu took three years to build, using teams of craftsmen from all over Ireland and the UK, as well as local stonemasons and joiners. It’s surrounded by forest managed by the Irish Forestry Board, Coillte.

An Culu is privately owned and cannot be visited.

Ardgillan Castle

STRIFELAND, BALBRIGGAN, COUNTY DUBLIN

+353 1 849 2212 | www.ardgillancastle.ie

Dating from 1738 and with considerable embellishment in the 1800s, Ardgillan Castle sits in a parkland setting in North County Dublin, with views over the sea. Ardgillan was originally built as a large country house, and the castellations were added in the 1800s. It was built by the Taylor family, whose ancestor Thomas Taylor had moved to Ireland from England in 1660 to be the Chief Examiner of the Down Survey of Ireland, the first detailed national land survey in the world. This survey was necessary after Cromwell’s Irish campaigns, which ended much land ownership for Catholics, providing opportunities for Protestants such as Taylor, who was able to buy up over 20,000 acres in Ireland. The Taylor family owned the property for over two centuries, but it is now owned by the State and is open to the public all year round for tours, refreshments, and activities. It sits in 194 acres of grassland and woodland, including walled, ornamental, and rose gardens.

Askeaton Castle

HIGH STREET, CROOM, COUNTY LIMERICK

www.limerick.ie

Askeaton Castle stands on a small island in the river Deel in County Limerick. Started in 1199 and now a ruin, it was one of the castles of the Fitzgeralds, the Earls of Desmond, who arrived with the Norman invasion but who adopted the local language, laws, and culture to become “more Irish than the Irish themselves”, it was said. The Fitzgeralds ruled Munster from this castle for several centuries, until the English forces ate away at their support and drove them out in the late 1500s. The castle was destroyed by the forces of Cromwell in 1652, when it was defended by confederate Catholic forces.

The castle has a fine banqueting hall, with interesting architectural windows built above wine cellars and kitchens, testament to the importance of entertaining to the Irish nobility. Close by are two other ruins of interest: a fourteenth-century Franciscan friary founded by the Fitzgeralds, destroyed by an English commander in 1579 after failing to take the castle itself, and the 1740 Hellfire Club, where rich men were said to have gathered for entertainments and excesses of various kinds.

Athenry Castle

GORTEENACRA, ATHENRY, COUNTY GALWAY

+353 91 844 797 | www.athenryheritagecentre.com

This is a fine restored thirteenth-century castle in the medieval walled town of Athenry, about fifteen miles from the city of Galway. The castle was built by the Anglo-Norman lord, Meyler de Bermingham, c. 1237, after he was granted lands following the Conquest of Connaught. Having built an imposing tower surrounded by defensive walls, he then set about developing the town, adding a parish church, a priory, a hospital, streets, houses, and a marketplace. By the end of the thirteenth century, Athenry was a wealthy and important market town with trading links to England and the Continent. Town walls were built in 1316 to protect the inhabitants from the warring Irish, but over the next two centuries the town declined.