Castle hotel
Collooney
Markree Castle
A small, family-run castle hotel restored by the 10th generation of the Cooper family after standing derelict following World War II.
Worth the detour
Notable castles to visit
17thc.
Notable castle
Ballinafad Castle
Known as 'the Castle of the Curlews', this Elizabethan-era blockhouse overlooking Lough Arrow was built during the Nine Years' War by Captain John St Barbe to guard the strategic Curlew Mountains pass.
1300
Notable castle
Ballymote Castle
A large rectangular keepless castle built around 1300 by Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster ('the Red Earl'), to secure his newly won territory in south Sligo — regarded as the last of the great Norman castles built in Connacht.
19thc.
Notable castle
Markree Castle
Originally a fortified outpost of the Gaelic McDonagh clan guarding a ford across the River Unsin, it was granted to Cromwellian officer Cornet Edward Cooper in 1663.