Historic Places in County Leitrim

Parkes Castle is a beautifully restored early seventeenth-century plantation castle on the shore of Lough Gill in County Sligo, managed by the Office of Public Works and open to visitors with an interpretive exhibition. Built by Robert Parke on the site of an O'Rourke stronghold, the three-storey tower house and surrounding bawn wall represent one of the best-presented plantation castles in Ireland, restored using traditional materials and techniques. The setting on Lough Gill is exceptional: the lake inspired W.B. Yeats's poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree, with Innisfree island visible from the castle shore. The combination of restored plantation castle, literary associations and the outstanding natural beauty of Lough Gill makes Parkes Castle one of the most rewarding heritage destinations in Connacht.

Manorhamilton Castle is a ruined plantation castle in the town of Manorhamilton in County Leitrim, built in 1638 by Sir Frederick Hamilton, a Scottish planter granted lands in north Leitrim following the early seventeenth-century plantation settlements. The four-square courtyard house served simultaneously as stronghold and residence, symbolising the transformation of Connacht's social and landowning structure by the plantation era. Sir Frederick conducted brutal campaigns during the 1641 rising and the castle was damaged in subsequent wars, eventually being abandoned as a ruin. Manorhamilton today is the principal town of north Leitrim, set in a dramatic glaciated valley surrounded by limestone mountains.