Best Castles in Ireland
As a child, I was lucky to have Ireland's castles as my playground. Living in Ireland, I used wooden swords to storm crumbling stone moats, climb knights' lookout towers and examine medieval torture dungeons. Now as an adult, these castles still leave me with a sense of wonder with their elaborate banquet halls, mighty defense systems and epic battlefields.
Today, dozens of ancient castles are sprinkled across Ireland’s lush, green countryside in various states of ruin. If you jump in a rental car and start driving, chances are you’ll find one. The trick is deciding which ones to see. These 5 Irish castles will sate your curiosity for all things medieval … and let loose your inner child. Don’t forget your sword.
Blarney Castle
County Cork
Sure, thousands of tourists swarm Blarney Castle in southern Ireland every year, but it's still worth a visit. Here, you can kiss the notorious Blarney Stone and, as legend has it, get the "gift of the gab." Climb 10 flights of stairs to reach the stone at the top of the castle's main tower. Grip 2 metal bars, lie backwards and a castle worker will hold your legs while you reach out, upside down, over a sheer 10-story drop to kiss the stone. Don't forget to have someone take your picture. Kissing stone aside, the best part of this castle is its floral gardens, spread over 60 acres. Take time to walk the paths for a 360-degree view of the tower built 600 years ago by Irish chieftain Cormac MacCarthy.
Bunratty Castle
County Clare
Even before you get to Ireland, book a banquet at Bunratty Castle. This fortress sits on Folk Park, an ancient Viking trading camp dating back to 970 A.D., just 7 miles from Shannon Airport in southwest Ireland. The current castle structure is actually the fourth castle to be built onsite. Due to the violent changing of hands over 200 years between Irish chieftains and English kings, the original castle (and the following 2) were destroyed in battle. Today, it's the best place in Ireland to enjoy a traditional medieval feast. In the banquet hall, women dressed in medieval gowns serve you hunks of pork, potato soup, bread and goblets of mulled mead. You'll sit on a long wooden bench and eat by candlelight, family-style, like the knights would have. The feast is set to the tune of a medieval instrument quartet, and with the cheery ambiance you're sure to become fast friends with strangers around you.
Doe Castle
County Donegal
Doe Castle in County Donegal in northwest Ireland is one of my favorites simply because it architecturally looks cool. It's surrounded on 3 sides by water, and was built on a peninsula with a moat cleaved into the rock of the landward side. In short, Doe Castle looks like it's floating. The best view of this castle is actually from a distance on the wide spot on the Carrigart–Creeslough road about 10 miles from the village of Dunfanaghy. High outer walls and 4 major defense towers ring an interior building with a 4-story tower and keep. While the interior isn't technically open to the public, locals open the castle gates daily so you can meander inside. It's one of Ireland's more rustic castles, so don't expect audio guides and tours. You're on your own here.
Cahir Castle
County Tipperary
Because Ireland doesn’t have an aggressive restoration program, many castles are crumbling. Not Cahir Castle. It's one of Ireland’s largest, best preserved medieval fortresses, maintaining the keep, tower and defense structures from its original construction in 1142. It was the former stronghold of the Butler family (former Irish nobility) and is situated on a rocky island on the River Suir in Tipperary County, south central Ireland. Book a 30- to 40-minute guided tour in advance. Afterward, explore the spiral staircases, small side chambers and see the quilt-like Irish countryside from the top of Cahir Tower. Cahir Castle also features a 15-minute movie, Cahir Castle and the Story of Irish Castles, which gives a historical overview of the function of castle fortresses in Ireland.
Ashford Castle
County Galway
Ashford Castle in County Galway is western Ireland's fairytale castle. This nearly 800-year-old castle was once owned by the Guinness family and kept in spectacular condition. Later it was converted into a 5-star luxury hotel; now you can actually stay the night. Sounds cheesy, I know, but spending a night like nobility in a cozy medieval castle is worth the heftier price tag. Ashford is also one of Ireland's most popular destination wedding venues because of its elaborate gold interior and extensive manicured lawns.
Enjoy a taste of aristocratic lifestyle and Titanic-era glamour by staying with real-life aristocrats in one of Ireland’s unspoiled grand homes and castles. By Vanessa Harriss
“In my grandparents’ day, it really was like Downton Abbey, with big weekend parties and lots of servants,” says Fred Madden, heir to Hilton Park in County Monaghan, which has been in his family for four centuries.
But like the real-life Highclere Castle, where the adventures of Julian Fellowes’ Earl of Grantham are filmed, big houses have to find a way to survive in the 21st century.
And luckily for those of us who crave some Titanic-era glamour, many of the owners have opened them to paying guests…
Alan Brooke, 3rd Viscount Brookeborough of Colebrooke Park in Fermanagh, believes that those grand house parties had a special magic: “People would be invited because they were interesting and could entertain the family and each other.”
These days, “we have groups for shooting or fishing who already know each other, which makes it easier because we really take part as hosts when people come to stay.”
The soul of the building
But it’s not all just economic reasons. Emily Bunbury, whose husband’s family bought Lisnavagh, County Carlow, in 1702, says that guests are essential for the building’s soul. “You can feel it as soon as you walk in: Lisnavagh really loves a good party, otherwise it can start to feel like a museum.”
Living history
So what’s it like to have strangers in your living room? “Busy!” laughs Alex Durdin-Robertson, whose family have lived in Huntington Castle in Carlow since it was built in 1625. “We’ve got two boys under two, four dogs and a pair of pot-bellied pigs. Even without visitors it’s chaos!”
Even so, living in a national treasure is a balancing act. “On the one hand it’s a 400-year-old castle, but on the other it’s where we live. At six o’clock it turns back into our home.”
Big house homes
Growing up in a castle was great fun, admits Alex: “We used to hide under a four-poster bed and giggle at the visitors. They probably thought the place was haunted!”
Giving small boys the run of the place can be risky, though. “I once kicked a football and knocked over a glass of red wine – it splattered right up the wall,” remembers Fred. The rest of us would solve the problem with a damp cloth, but in a house like Hilton Park it isn’t so easy.
“The wallpaper in one of the bedrooms is actually listed,” says Fred. “Luckily this was in the drawing room and we had a spare roll so we could repair the damage. I was more careful after that!”
Colebrooke’s busy months are in the winter for the shooting, whereas the others are open during the summer. But for all of them, come the end of the season, the doors are closed.
Emily Bunbury echoes all the owners when she laughs, “By that stage the house needs a rest for a few weeks – and so do we!”
Irish history from ringforts to castles
Irish history can be traced through the castles you will see dotted throughout every county in Ireland today. They are the legacy of some 6000 years of occupation dating back to Megalithic times, when the Celts arrived here from mainland Europe. Impressive burial mounds such as Newgrange , ringforts and dolmens like those at Craggaunowen are attributed to these hunter gatherer tribes. The Celts were then followed by successive waves of invaders including the Vikings, Normans, English and even the Spanish, the French never quite made it. We finally achieved independence from England in 1916 for 26 of Ireland's counties while 6 in (Northern Ireland) still remain part of Britain. The commercial foundations of Dublin were laid by the Vikings (Dublinia) followed by the Normans who built impressive strongholds such as Trim castle where the epic movie 'Braveheart' was filmed. Our infamous claim to fame? some 2,000 bare-bottomed extras recruited from the Curragh Army Camp in County Kildare...
Other castles in Irish history range from large fortified towers with impressive keeps such as Bunratty Castle in County Clare, to smaller ones like Thoor Ballylee, in County Galway, former home of the poet and playwright Willaim Butler Yeats. Grand country houses like Tullynally and Birr were castle-ated with fairy tale parapets and towers as was the fashion during the reiqn of Queen Victoria. Many of these big houses and castles on vast estates were given to (often) absentee English landlords in return for military duty. As a result, many of these were ransacked and burned down during the 'troubles'. Others were saved and restored privately or are now under the management of Office of Public Works or the auspices of the Irish Georgian society and so have survived to tell the tale. There are hundreds of castles all over the country, many in ruins that you can explore freely, just be careful !
Good Tip Try hiding some 'treasure' ie a few coins in the walls for children to find, it will keep them amused for hours !
The 10 Best Castles in Ireland are....
1 Ardgillan Castle, Balbriggan, County Dublin
2 Birr Castle, Tullamore, County Offaly
3 Bunratty Castle, Bunratty, County Clare
4 Charleville Castle, Tullamore, County Offaly
5 Dublin Castle, 2 Palace St, Dublin 2.
6 Dunguaire Castle, Kinvara, County Galway.
7 Kilkenny Castle, Castle Rd, Kilkenny.
8 Malahide Castle, Malahide, County Dublin
9 Trim Castle, Trim, County Meath
10 Tullynally Castle, Castlepollard, County Westmeath
You can stay in quiet a few posh castles like well known Ashford or Dromoland Castles? Ballynahinch is much more atmospheric (it was once owned by an Indian maharajah) the 5 star Solis Lough Eske in Donegal or the delightful family run since 1940 Ballinalacken Castle in County Clare. Or you can go to a medieval banquet, throughout the summer in Dunguaire, Knappogue or Bunratty Castles. You can even rent a whole castle to yourself if you like, for a small kings ransom ?
Carrickfergus Castle - A Solid Demonstration of Norman Power
Carrickfergus. Credit: Richard Luney, CC-BY-2.0.
The Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169 and were determined to conquer the country, as they had captured England and Wales beforehand.
Of all their castles in Northern Ireland, Carrickfergus is undoubtedly one of the most impressive. The castle was built in the mid 1170s, mainly as a very visible demonstration of the Normans' military might.
Carrickfergus Castle is situated in a superbly defensive position, as it looks eastward across the Belfast Lough and was originally surrounded by the sea on three sides (nowadays, some of the port-land is reclaimed from the sea, so the castle stands on a much smaller sea-front).
The bright red fishing-boats which trawl the Belfast Lough form an attractive contrast to the brown stone of the castle. Credit: Michael Kooiman, CC-BY-SA-2.0.
The castle is constructed from rough-hewn stone, and is imposing even by modern-day standards. At its heart lies an impressive Norman keep, which is protected by strong, defensive curtain walls which wrap tightly around it.
Carrickfergus certainly appears impressive, but its strength was partially for show. The Normans struggled to maintain control of much of Ulster, and it's likely that this tremendous castle had a 'bark worse than its bite' - despite its fearsome looks, the reality is that Norman power in Northern Ireland was really quite weak for hundreds of years.
A side view of Carrickfergus, demonstrating its impressive battlements and its foundations upon a deep, rocky plinth. Credit: Donna Marijne, CC-BY-SA-2.0.
Over the centuries, the castle was used to hold prisoners, and was besieged numerous times (it's effectively at the gateway to the north of Ireland, and so was attached by the Scots, Irish, English and French, too).
Nowadays, it's rather besieged with tourists. It's a very atmospheric little castle to explore, but the atmosphere is rather spoiled by larger-than-life waxworks, which demonstrate every part of Medieval life (everything from pouring boiling oil to, er, using the privy. Nice!).
Planning on visiting Carrickfergus Castle?
If you're planning on visiting Carrickfergus Castle, my recommendation is to stay in Belfast and tackle it as a day-trip - there's a local rail station in easy walking distance of the castle, or driving is easy. It should be no more than a 30min trip.
Dunseverick Castle - A Castle in Northern Ireland That Just Needs Your Imagination
Dunseverick Castle. (Ach10, CC-BY-ND-2.0)
Dunseverick Castle is an unusual pick within this selection of castles in Northern Ireland. Why did I choose it? After all, the castle ruins have almost completely disappeared, save for a few old dilapidated stone walls perched enigmatically atop a rugged cliff.
However, although there's not much of Dunseverick Castle that's still visible, the history behind the ruins is phenomenal. Dunseverick was founded well before the Norman invasion of Ireland - it was the site of a fort during the Iron Ages and was allegedly visited by St Patrick in AD500. It was attacked by Vikings in about AD900.
After the Norman invasion, the castle remained an important, fortified stronghold defending a key segment of the Irish coastline. During these years - from the late 1100s to the 1600s - the castle was held by the local McCain family, who fortified and further strengthened the site.
A sheep grazing the green grasses of Northern Ireland, with Dunseverick Castle in the background. Credit: Randy Storey, CC-BY-2.0.
The ruined state of Dunseverick dates to 1642, when the Cromwellian campaign from England captured and destroyed the castle during their successful conquest of Ireland.
Presently, you can just wander up to the limited ruins of Dunseverick yourself - there's no entry charge or formal visiting arrangement. It's a common 'stopping off' point for tourists taking travelling along the Causeway Coast of Country Antrim, as it's just a stone's throw from the Giant's Causeway.
Dunluce Castle: The Gem Amongst All Castles in Northern Ireland
Dunluce Castle. (James Driscoll) CC-BY-SA-2.0.
Dunluce is the real gem amongst all the castles in Northern Ireland. It's a surprisingly vast, grey stone ruin, tantalisingly perched on a basalt crag, which juts out into the choppy County Antrim sea.
It's hard to convey just how impressive the setting of Dunluce Castle is. The edges of the crag are sheer cliff faces, which fall precipitously into the angry sea below.
On a grey day - and, let's face it, Northern Ireland has a lot of grey days! - the different shades of grey ocean, grey ruins and grey sky are strikingly picturesque- although you're suddenly living in an old black-and-white movie.
Access to the castle is across a bridge from the mainland cafe and coffee shop - creating a sense of isolation from the 21st century. The crag on which the castle stands would have been almost unassailable to any intruder, which is evidently the reason iron age fortifications were built on this spot, back before the times of the Vikings.
A view from the mainland to the bridge which provides all access to and from Dunluce Castle. Credit: Robert Paul Young, CC-BY-2.0.
When the Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169, it's easy to imagine them rubbing their hands with glee when they saw the strength and potential of this craggy corner. They established the first buildings of Dunluce in the late 1100s, and the castle grew significantly over the next six hundred years - incorporating domestic dwellings as well as defensive ramparts. The castle remained in the hands of various Irish landlords until well into the c17th.
"The remains of four cannons from the Spanish Armada were built into the castle"
Interestingly, in 1588, the castle benefitted from the disaster of the Spanish Armada. Because the Spanish ships were fatefully blown off-course - saving the skins of the ill-prepared English - one of the treasure ships, the Girona, was wrecked upon the nearby Giant's Causeway.
"Sorely Boy" McDonnell, the then-owner of the castle, is said to have scavenged through the wreckage of the ship and pulled out four grand cannons from the remains. It's said that he built these cannons into the walls of Dunluce Castle, beefing up the defences of this already formidable fortress.
Dunluce Castle as the sun sets. As you can see, the castle is attractively built using thousands of uneven rocks. Credit: Jo Jakeman, CC-BY-2.0.
Nowadays, Dunluce is probably the most visited of all the castles in Northern Ireland. It remains in the care of the Northern Irish Ministry for the Environment and, although entrance is modestly charged, it's open most of the year.
Planning on visiting Dunluce Castle?
I'd definitely devote a generous chunk of time to visiting Dunluce Castle - a full morning or afternoon's really required to really take in this very special little castle, and the dramatic surrounding coast-line.
Irish Castles 60m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykaJXyKIBnk
Ashford Castle 4m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJUct53OZCA
Dromoland Castle 4m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7nmhM0vmRo
Bunratty Castle 4m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2IKV0_zfQk
Blarney Castle 15m
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcjMxxUc17c
