Best Castle in County Laois, Ireland - Map and Reviews

Castle Durrow is situated 65 miles from Dublin near the village of Durrow, in the centre of Ireland. The castle is set in formal terraced gardens which overlook the River Erkina and is built in a pre Palladian style from blue grey stone over two floors. The castle comprises of the main building, two wings and outbuildings. The grounds stretch out over 30 acres which include paddocks, an orchard and woodland. Facilities Castle Durrow has now been totally renovated and transformed into a luxury country house hotel with high ceilings and wooden floors. The rooms have been divided into different styles including oriental, de luxe, family and master suites. All are individually designed and are located in the main house, wings and the castle yard. The hotel facilities include dining rooms; where the food is seasonal and locally produced or produced at the hotel itself, beauty spa, tennis courts and a snooker room. There is even the opportunity to talk to the organic kitchen garden exert about the food grown at the hotel and the methods employed. Castle Durrow hotel offers All Inclusive Wedding Packages, with pampering sessions and a complimentary stay for the bride and groom. Castle Durrow was built in 1712 as the family home of William Flower an Irish politician and peer. The family finally moved into their new home in 1716 and the castle stayed in the family for over 200 years during which time it was improved and expanded. In 1922 the family were forced to leave for England after the bank foreclosed on the property. After two other owners the castle eventually fell into the hands of the Land Commission who divided up the lands for farming and left the castle empty. In 1929 the Parish of Durrow purchased the estate and the castle was turned into St Fintan's College and Convent. The Castle did not change hands again until 1998 when it was purchased by the Brookes family who transformed it into a hotel.

Tinnakill Castle is a medieval tower house located in County Laois in the Irish Midlands, standing as one of the many remarkable fortified residences that punctuate the bogland and pasture landscape of this often-overlooked county. The castle is a relatively well-preserved example of the type of tower house construction that proliferated across Ireland between the 15th and 17th centuries, built by Gaelic Irish or Anglo-Norman lords as a combined defensive stronghold and residence. It is notable among local heritage enthusiasts and those tracing the history of the O'More clan, the dominant Gaelic family who controlled much of County Laois during the medieval period and whose story is deeply woven into the fabric of the landscape around it. The history of Tinnakill Castle is inseparable from the turbulent story of the O'More dynasty and the wider conflict between Gaelic Ireland and the Tudor colonial project. The O'Mores were among the most persistent resisters of English expansion in Leinster, and castles like Tinnakill served as nodes in a network of power and resistance across what was then known as Laois, or "Leix." The plantation of Laois and Offaly in the 1550s, the first systematic plantation of Ireland, displaced many Gaelic lords from these territories, and the struggles around such strongholds were often violent and protracted. The castle would have changed hands, suffered siege, and witnessed the gradual erosion of Gaelic power across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a story repeated in scores of similar ruins across the Irish Midlands. Physically, Tinnakill Castle presents the characteristic silhouette of an Irish tower house: a roughly rectangular or square stone tower rising several storeys, with thick rubble-stone walls that have survived the centuries even as roofs and internal floors have long since vanished. The stonework is of the local limestone and sandstone typical of County Laois, giving it a grey-brown palette that blends organically with the surrounding fields and hedgerows. Mosses, ivy, and small ferns colonise the crevices in the masonry, softening what was once a hard martial structure into something that feels like a natural outgrowth of the land itself. Visiting such a place, one is struck by the deep quiet of the Irish countryside around it, broken only by birdsong and the rustle of wind through surrounding trees. The landscape around Tinnakill Castle is the quiet, intimate terrain of the Laois midlands — a countryside of irregular fields divided by mature hedgerows, scattered farmsteads, and occasional bogs. The area sits in a part of Ireland that sees relatively few tourists compared to the more famous heritage sites of the country, lending visits here a sense of genuine discovery. The broader region of County Laois contains several other points of interest, including the Rock of Dunamase, a dramatically sited castle ruin a short distance away, and the town of Portlaoise, the county town, lies within reasonable driving distance. The Slieve Bloom Mountains rise to the west, offering fine walking country that contrasts with the flatter agricultural land immediately surrounding the castle. Visiting Tinnakill Castle requires some preparation, as it is a rural ruin rather than a managed heritage site with formal facilities. Access is typically via narrow country roads, and visitors should expect to navigate by map or GPS to reach the structure, which does not have significant signage. The castle sits on or adjacent to private land, as is common with many Irish tower houses, so it is worth checking local access etiquette and, if necessary, seeking permission from nearby landowners before approaching. There are no visitor facilities, car parks, or interpretive panels at the site itself. The best times to visit are late spring and summer when daylight is long and the ground is drier, though the misty atmosphere of autumn lends these ruins a particular romantic quality. One of the quiet fascinations of Tinnakill, as with so many Irish tower houses, is the way it speaks to a lost world of local Gaelic lordship that the Plantation era deliberately tried to erase. These were not mere forts but sophisticated domestic and administrative centres, with the upper floors hosting the lord's hall and private chambers while lower levels stored goods and housed animals. To stand at the base of the remaining walls and look upward is to try to reconstruct mentally the full height and interior life of a building that was once the heart of a local community and power structure. The very name Tinnakill derives from Irish and relates to features of the local topography, embedding this place in a linguistic landscape that predates the English presence in Ireland by centuries.

Cullahill Castle is a ruined tower house situated in the rolling drumlin countryside of County Laois, in the Irish Midlands. It stands as a quietly imposing remnant of medieval Gaelic Ireland, rising above a gentle hillside near the small village of Cullahill. Though not as widely visited as some of Ireland's more celebrated castle ruins, it rewards those who seek it out with an atmosphere of genuine antiquity and a tangible connection to the turbulent history of the Laois-Offaly region. The castle is associated with the MacGiollapadraig family, anglicised as the Fitzpatricks, one of the most powerful Gaelic dynasties of medieval Leinster, and its walls carry the memory of centuries of conflict, power, and displacement. The Fitzpatricks were among the few Gaelic lords of Leinster who managed to maintain a significant degree of autonomy well into the sixteenth century. As lords of Upper Ossory, they controlled large swathes of what is now County Laois, and tower houses like Cullahill were instruments of that lordship — strongholds from which they collected tribute, administered justice, and defended their territories from rival clans and, later, from the encroachments of Tudor colonial policy. Cullahill Castle is thought to date from around the fifteenth or sixteenth century, typical of the tower house construction that flourished across Ireland during this period as local lords sought defensible stone residences. The broader Cullahill area and its strategic hill were likely significant long before the castle's construction, owing to the commanding views the elevated ground affords over the surrounding plains. Physically, what survives of Cullahill Castle is primarily a section of tower walling, worn and weathered by centuries of Irish rain and wind. The stone is a roughened limestone and local rubble construction, with the mortar largely eroded in places, giving the ruin a skeletal, organic quality that makes it appear almost as though it has grown from the hillside itself. Vegetation encroaches on the lower courses of masonry, with ivy, moss, and grasses softening the harder edges. Visiting in person, one is struck by the quiet — the wind moving through the gap in the walls, the occasional caw of crows or jackdaws that tend to inhabit such ruins, and the sense of deep stillness that pervades many of Ireland's less-visited historic sites. The landscape surrounding Cullahill is quintessential South Laois countryside: a patchwork of green pastures divided by hedgerows, with the Cullahill Mountain and the broader Slieve Bloom range visible to the northwest. This upland fringe sits at the transition between the flat midland plains and the more rugged terrain of the Slieve Bloom foothills, giving the area a distinct character. The village of Cullahill itself is a tiny settlement on the N8 road corridor (now somewhat bypassed), and the castle can be found in its vicinity. The broader region includes Aghaboe Abbey, another significant medieval site just a short distance away, and the town of Durrow, making the area worthwhile for anyone tracing the historic heritage of County Laois. Visiting Cullahill Castle is an informal, unmanaged experience — there is no heritage centre, no interpretive panels, and no admission fee. Access is via small rural roads, and visitors should be prepared for the typically Irish combination of muddy ground, uneven terrain, and limited signage. The ruin sits on or near private farmland, so it is advisable to be respectful of any boundaries and to check locally about access. The best time to visit is during the drier months of late spring through early autumn, when ground conditions are more manageable and the longer daylight hours allow for more comfortable exploration. Sturdy footwear is strongly recommended. One of the understated pleasures of a place like Cullahill Castle is the absence of crowds and the sense of discovery it affords. Here, without tour groups or souvenir shops, it is possible to stand among stones that have weathered more than five centuries and to reflect quietly on the Gaelic world that built them — a world of brehon law, clan politics, poetry in Irish, and fierce attachment to land. The Fitzpatricks of Upper Ossory eventually submitted to English crown authority under the plantation era, but this castle predates that accommodation, and its ruins represent the more assertively independent phase of their lordship. For students of Irish medieval history, local heritage enthusiasts, and curious travellers willing to leave the main roads, Cullahill Castle offers a modest but genuinely moving encounter with the Irish past.