Irish Castles. Orna Mulcahy

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

      [phone] | 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.