Built in 1462 on a site occupied since AD 983, Glenquin passed from the O'Briens to the Geraldines during the Desmond Rebellions and was partly demolished on the orders of Sir Walter Raleigh. Restored in 1840 and again in the 1980s, it was where 300 Irish Volunteers mustered during the 1916 Easter Rising.
Visiting Glenquin Castle
Yes — in OPW care near Killeedy; restored tower house open seasonally.
"Built in 1462 on a site occupied since AD 983, Glenquin passed from the O'Briens to the Geraldines during the Desmond Rebellions and was partly demolished on the orders of Sir Walter Raleigh."
Where to stay nearby
The closest castle hotel is Ballyseede Castle, 40.22 km away in Tralee — 15th-century castle, chief garrison of the Fitzgerald Earls of Desmond; the current structure dates to 1721 after the earlier castle passed to the Blennerhassett family, and it became a hotel in 1965.
