Historic Places in County Cavan

Clogh Oughter Castle is located on an island on Lough Oughter in Killykeen forest park near Cavan. The castle is a circular Anglo-Norman tower on a man-made island. The water level may have reached the foot of the walls originally, but the water level has fallen due to drainage work in more recent times. The tower is about 15m in diameter and juts over18m high. The southern side is badly damaged and the remains of the wall stands only about 1m tall. The original was a circular tower with an entrance at the first floor level. The first floor level has two other doorways which would have led to attached walls or towers which have long since gone. The fireplace and cobbled floor on the ground level were probably added in the 17th century. Facilities Clogh Oughter Castle is accessible only by boat. Clough Oughter was built by the de Lacy family in the early 13the century. The castle was taken over by the O'Reilly's after a siege in the 1220s. The O'Reilly family held Clough Oughter until the end of the 16th century. The castle was an important fortress and prison. In the early 17th century, Clough Oughter became a royal castle during the plantation of Ulster in 1608 to 1609. The castle was granted to Captain Hugh Culme, who took up residence in house on the lakeside opposite the castle. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Irish rebels captured the castle, capturing Captain Culme who was imprisoned in the castle. The castle was used to house captured officers after the battle of Benburb in 1646. Oliver Cromwell's forces besieged and captured the castle in 1653, badly damaging the southern side in the process.

The Ringfort at Garrysallagh in County Cavan is a large earthwork enclosure of the early medieval period, one of an estimated forty thousand or more such structures surviving across Ireland from roughly the fourth to the twelfth centuries. The substantial bank and external ditch enclosing a circular area would originally have contained the timber-framed house and outbuildings of a farming family of some local standing. This example is notably large, indicating the residence of a prosperous farmer or minor lord who could command the labour needed for substantial earthwork construction. County Cavan is rich in ringforts and other prehistoric and early medieval earthworks reflecting its importance as a settled agricultural landscape across many centuries.