Castle hotel
Cong
Ashford Castle
One of Ireland's most historically layered 5-star castle hotels, on Lough Corrib, with a 13th-century core beneath later Victorian and Guinness-era additions.
Worth the detour
Notable castles to visit
1228
Notable castle
Ashford Castle
Founded in 1228 by the Anglo-Norman de Burgo (Burke) family on the shores of Lough Corrib, the estate passed to the Brownes and then, in 1852, to the Guinness family, who added the Victorian wing, turrets and terraced gardens that give Ashford its fairy-tale silhouette today.
15thc.
Notable castle
Kildavnet Castle
A compact tower house on Achill Island guarding the strategic mouth of Achill Sound, strongly associated with Grace O'Malley, who is said to have used it to control shipping and levy tolls on vessels passing between the island and the mainland..
16thc.
Notable castle
Rockfleet Castle (Carraigahowley)
A four-storey tower house near Newport most famous as the base of Grace O'Malley ('Gráinne Mhaol'), the 16th-century pirate queen of Clan O'Malley, who moved in after marrying her second husband Richard 'an Iarainn' Bourke in 1566 and reputedly continued to run her seaborne operations from here.
13thc.
Notable castle
Shrule Castle
A 13th-century Norman hall house in the village of Shrule on the Mayo–Galway border, one of the early Anglo-Norman fortified residences built as the de Burgo lordship expanded through Connacht along the River Black..