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             The Castles of Ireland

What is a Castle?
A castle is defined as "a stone built fortification capable of being defended by a smaller force against attack by a larger force". 

Castles and fortifications have been part of the Irish landscape going back for over two thousand years. They were built by the ancient kings and chieftains to defend their territories and for residential purposes. These ancient fortifications were usually built on mounds with some form of moat or earthwork circling the mound, as a defensive obstacle for attackers trying to gain access or entry to the fort. In the earlier days the castles or forts were wooden structures although there may have been a stone wall “stone forts” all around the wooden fortification. For this reason the oldest structures no longer survive.  The great palace at Tara and Emhain Macha were two such fortifications and today, all that remain are circular earth mounds, where the defensive moats once were. The enclosure created by the moat was called a “bailey” where all the daily activities occurred by the residents, hence the use of the prefix “bally” for many towns in Ireland.

Eurpoean influence in Ireland, saw many abbeys and round towers built from stone. Some new castles were built using this technique but it was not until the Norman invasion and afterwards that the widespread use of stone was used in the construction of castles. It wasn't until the Normans came to Ireland that more and more castles were being built. Some castles had been built to protect English lords and those in power, while others had been built by locals who learned about castles from invading forces. 

In the mid 1400’s the English were fully occupied in the Hundred Years War. Under a grant from  Henry IV in 1429 a limited number of government grants of 10 pounds were made available to landowners in the Pale ,for the building of fortified houses. 
"It is agreed and asserted that every leige-man of our Lord the King of the said counties (viz. Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Louth), who choose to build a castle or tower sufficiently fortified, within the next ten years, to wit, twenty feet in length, sixteen feet in width, and forty feet in height or more, that the Commons of the said counties shall pay to the said person to build the said castle or tower, ten pounds by way of subsidy".

At this period the Irish clans had come to terms with the Normans, had regained some of their old territories and grown strong and influencial themselves. From about 1400 onwards they were to embark on castle and monastery building on a larger scale.

From 1450 to 1600 tower houses were built all over the island, more of them being erected on areas of good land than elsewhere. However with the Cromwellian invasion in 1649 a large number of these fortified castles or dwellings were destroyed in an attempt to curb the rise in power of the native Irish families whose strength had gone unchecked for many centuries.

Some of the finest examples of Castles in Ireland

Dunluce Castle, Co Antrim   The castle as seen today dates largely from the 16th and 17th centuries by the MacDonnells, however the outer walls with round towers are attributed to being built in the 14th century by the MacQuillans. 
Carrigfergus, Co Antrim  The core of the castle was built by John de Courcy, who conquered east Ulster in 1177 and ruled as king until 1204. De Coursey  was forced out by another Norman , Hugh de Lacy, and remained the centre of Anglo-Norman power in Ulster, for many centuries.   The keep is a massive four-storey tower, 90-feet high, with a second-storey entrance. In 1928 it was transferred to the Government for preservation as an ancient monument. 
Dublin Castle, Dublin 
In the 9th century the Vikings built a hill fort on the site of the current castle and this was replaced with a Norman castle in 1204.  The Castle was badly damaged by fire in 1684. After the 17 th century the castle was a palace, for the Viceroys of Ireland, until the end of British rule in Ireland in 1922. The castle is  used for the inaugurations of the Presidents of Ireland. 
Blarney Castle, Co. Cork. originally dated from before 1200 A.D. , when a wooden structure was built on the site. Around 1210 A.D. this was replaced by a stone fortification. It was destroyed in 1446, but subsequently rebuilt by Cormac MacCarthy. 
Barryscourt Castle Co Cork the 16th century seat of the Barry family.
 Bunratty Castle, Co. Clare,  In 970 A.D.  it was part of a Viking settlement. These lands were later granted to Thomas de Clare, who built the first stone structure on the site. In 1332 A.D. , soon after being restored for the King of England, the castle was once again razed by the Irish Chieftains of Thomond under the O' Briens and the MacNamaras.  Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond,  was the last member of the O'Brien Clan ever to reside in Bunratty Castle. Today it is used for nightly Medieval Banquets.

Knappogue castle Co Clare  built in 1467 A.D. , is located in Quin, County Clare. It was built by Sean MacNamara. . In 1571A.D.  the castle became the seat of the MacNamara Clan and Knappogue remained in MacNamara hands throughout the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s. However, between 1649-53 it was confiscated by Oliver Cromwell. Today it is used for nightly Medieval Banquets.

Dysart O'Dea Castle Co Clare was built between 1470 and 1480, by Diarmaid O'Dea . The Battle of Dysert O'Dea, which drove the Anglo-Normans from the region for over 200 years, took place at this site on May 10, 1318. Corofin has a wealth of historical and archaeological remains. 
Donegal Castle, Co Donegal   Dún na nGall, translates as Fort of the Foreigner possibly coming from an earlier Viking fortress destroyed in 1159.  Sir Hugh O’Donnell, chief of the O’Donnell clan, built the castle in 1474. At the same time, he and his wife Nuala, built a Franciscan monastery nearby. The castle was regarded as one of the finest Gaelic castles in Ireland. In 1607, after the Nine Years war, the leaders of the O'Donnell clan left Ireland in the Flight of the Earls. In 1611 the castle and its lands were granted to an English Captain, Basil Brooke. The Brooke family owned the castle for many generations until it fell into a ruinous state in the 18th century. 
Doe Castle, Co Donegal , near Creeslough, Co. Donegal was historically a stronghold of Clan Suibhne, .  Built in the 16th century. it is one of the better preserved fortifications in the North-West of Ireland. 
Portumna Castle Co Galway   The great semi-fortified house at Portumna was built before 1618 by Richard Burke , 4th Earl of Clanricarde. It was the main seat of the Burke family for over 200 years.
Lynch's Castle, Co Galway was the historic home of Galway's most powerful Lynch family. It's heavily carved facade bears the arms of Henry VIII. 
Dunguaire, Kinvara, Co. Galway  The castle was built in 1520 by the O'Hynes clan . This restored 16th century tower house sits on a rocky outcrop on the shores of Galway Bay. Today it is used for nightly Medieval Banquets.
Ross Castle, Co Kerry   Ross Castle was built in the late 1400s by local ruling clan the O'Donoghues Mor (Ross), though ownership changed hands during the Desmond Rebellion of the 1580s to the Mac Carty Mor. The castle was amongst the last to surrender to Oliver Cromwell's Roundheads during the Irish Confederate Wars.
Maynooth Castle,     Co Kildare was built before the middle of the thirteenth century and was the home of the Fitzgerald family until  1534 . An English force bombarded the castle in March 1535, with heavy  siege guns of the English army making a ruin of it's medieval structure. The castle fell after a ten day siege. The garrison was later executed.
Kilkenny Castle, Co Kilkenny Strongbow built a castle here as early as 1172 . Parliament often met in the castle during the fourteenth century, In 1391 it was sold to the Butlers, Earls of Ormonde, who after the Restoration of 1660 carried out a major rebuilding of the old castle, after it had been damaged in Cromwell's siege of 1650. 
Dunamase Co Laoise  Dunamase originated as Dun Masc, an Early Christian dun. It was plundered by the Vikings , as reported in the annals is for the year 843/4  . The arrival of the Normans in the late twelfth century saw a refortification of the Rock. The two surviving elements which belong to this early phase are the hall at the top of the hill and an early gate-tower into the lower ward. 
King John's Castle, Limerick is a 13th century Castle on ‘King’s Island’ in the heart of Limerick City. The Castle is built on the banks of the River Shannon . It has an impressive visitors center with a recount of 800 years of history.
Trim Castle, Co.Meath  the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, was constructed over a thirty year period by Hugh de Lacy and his son Walter. Hugh de Lacy was granted the Liberty of Meath by King Henry II in 1176 in an attempt to curb the power of Richard de Clare, (Strongbow).
Rockfleet, Co Mayo or Carraigahowley Castle was built on Clare Island in the mid 16th century, and is most famously associated with Grace O'Malley, the pirate queen and chieftain of the clan O’Malley. Accessible only by boat.
Roscommon Castle, Co Roscommon   was built in 1269 by Robert de Ufford,  on lands he had seized from the Dominican Priory. The castle was besieged by the Connacht King Aodh O'Connor in 1272. Eight years later it was again in the hands of an English garrison. By 1340 the O'Connors regained possession of it, and held it for two centuries until 1569.  It  1652, it was partially blown up by Cromwellian "Ironsides" who had all the fortifications dismantled. It was finally burned down in 1690 and gradually fell into decay. 
The Rock of Cashel, Co Tipperary  was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. The majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century. 
Ferns Castle Co Wexford, dates from the 1220's .  The last to capture Ferns Castle was General Coote in 1641 and a few years later the stronghold was dismantled during the Cromwellian War.
Enniscorty Castle, Co Wexford is an imposing Norman stronghold, which dates from 1205 . The castle was built by the DePrendergast's.  The castle was the site of many fierce battles during the Cromwellian years and also during the 1798 Rising.