17 historic sites
Castles in Ireland
Rock of Cashel, Kilkenny and hundreds of tower houses dot the Irish countryside from coast to coast.
ireland · Connemara, County Galway
Kylemore Abbey
The castle built for love and kept by nuns — Mitchell Henry built Kylemore as a honeymoon gift to his wife in the most dramatic valley in Connemara; when she died, he built her a Gothic chapel; when WWI destroyed their Belgian monastery, Benedictine nuns from Ypres arrived and have remained ever since
ireland · County Dublin, Howth Peninsula
Howth Castle
James Joyce's opening word and Ireland's oldest family castle — the St Lawrence family have lived in Howth Castle without interruption since 1235, and the estate's rhododendron gardens, harbour, and peninsula history make it one of the most layered half-day escapes from Dublin
ireland · County Wicklow
Russborough House
Ireland's longest Palladian facade — and its most burglarised great house
ireland · Connemara, County Galway
Aughnanure Castle
The O'Flaherty stronghold on Lough Corrib — a six-storey Connemara tower house where the lords who held 'Iar-Connacht' from this rock supplied Galway's last siege and left a trapdoor whose purpose Connacht guides debate to this day
ireland · Connemara, County Galway
Ballynahinch Castle
The estate where Grace O'Malley married, Richard 'Humanity Dick' Martin founded animal welfare law, and the greatest batsman of the Victorian age came for the salmon — Ballynahinch Castle has been passing between remarkable people since 1546 and is now a hotel anyone can visit for a drink by the river
ireland · County Cork
Blarney Castle
The 15th-century tower where kissing a stone is supposed to give you the gift of the gab
ireland · County Dublin
Dublin Castle
The seat of British rule in Ireland for 700 years — a medieval fortress transformed into a Georgian viceregal palace, where Ireland was handed back in January 1922
ireland · County Clare, Munster
Bunratty Castle
Ireland's most complete medieval castle and folk park
ireland · County Tipperary
Cahir Castle
One of the largest and best-preserved medieval castles in Ireland — on an island in the River Suir
ireland · County Donegal
Glenveagh Castle
The most dramatic castle setting in Ireland — a Victorian Scottish Baronial tower above Lough Veagh in Glenveagh National Park, built by Ireland's most notorious landlord and gifted to the nation by a Philadelphia Museum heir
ireland · Tipperary
Rock of Cashel
A cluster of medieval towers rising from a limestone outcrop — the ancient seat of the Kings of Munster
ireland · Kilkenny
Kilkenny Castle
Eight centuries of Irish history above the River Nore — the seat of the Butler dynasty in Ireland's medieval capital
ireland · County Dublin
Malahide Castle
Eight centuries in one family — Ireland's most remarkable lived-in castle
ireland · County Kerry
Muckross House
The Victorian mansion built for Queen Victoria's visit — a 65-room house in the heart of Killarney National Park, now owned by the Irish state, with grounds freely open and interior admission separate
ireland · County Kerry
Ross Castle
The last Gaelic stronghold to fall to Cromwell — a 15th-century tower house of the O'Donoghue Mór on the shore of Lough Leane, the centrepiece of Killarney National Park
ireland · County Meath
Trim Castle
The largest Norman castle in Ireland — Braveheart's fortress on the River Boyne
ireland · County Dublin
Ardgillan Castle
A Georgian coastal estate north of Dublin, with Victorian walled gardens, a Fairy Tree Trail, and cliff views across the Irish Sea — 30 kilometres up the coast from Malahide