Historic Places in County Roscommon

Ballintober Castle in County Roscommon is one of the most significant surviving medieval fortifications in Connacht, a large enclosure castle of the Anglo-Norman type built in the early thirteenth century and associated with the de Burgh family, who were among the most powerful of the Anglo-Norman magnates in medieval Ireland. Unlike the more common Irish tower house, Ballintober is a substantial planned fortress with a rectangular courtyard enclosed by curtain walls and flanked by round towers at each corner, a design that reflects the military and political ambitions of the Norman lords who introduced this form of castle-building to Ireland. The de Burgh family built Ballintober as part of their effort to establish control over Connacht, the westernmost province of Ireland, in competition with the native Gaelic dynasties who had long dominated the region. The castle changed hands repeatedly across the medieval and early modern periods as successive Gaelic and Anglo-Norman lords contested the rich agricultural lands of County Roscommon. The O'Connor family, the traditional kings of Connacht, were among those who held the castle at various points, giving Ballintober a complex history that reflects the tangled and shifting power struggles of medieval Ireland with particular clarity. Despite having been attacked, damaged and partially demolished on several occasions, Ballintober Castle has survived in a reasonably coherent state and the basic layout of its enclosure, walls and towers can be understood from the surviving fabric. The large round corner towers, characteristic of thirteenth-century military architecture, give the castle an imposing silhouette across the flat Roscommon landscape, and their scale speaks clearly to the resources that the de Burgh family was prepared to deploy in establishing their position in the west of Ireland. The castle stands in a quietly rural setting that provides a very different experience from the heavily visited Norman castles of the east coast, and its relatively undiscovered status adds to its appeal for those interested in the medieval archaeology of Connacht. The surrounding countryside of County Roscommon, with its lakes, drumlins and the nearby monastic site of Clonmacnoise, provides strong supporting context for a visit.

MacDermott's Castle is located on Lough Key, 3km north east of the town of Boyle in County Roscommon, Ireland Lough Key is about 10km across, and roughly circular in shape. It contains over 30 islands including Castle Island where McDermott's Castle stands. It was formerly known as McGreevys Castle. Lough Key adjoins the Rockingham Demesne, a Country Park that was once occupied by the Lords Lieutenant of Ireland. Facilities Lough Key Forest Park and Activity Park is an area of about 800 hectares of picturesque woodland and parkland with a lake and a number of wooded islands. It was once part of the Rockingham estate, owned by the MacDermott family. The park features an observation tower, wishing chair and underground tunnels. Wildlife is abundant in the diversity of habitats. Trinity Island on the lake has a ruined church. Moylurg Tower, standing on the site of Rockingham House which burned down in 1957, offers beautiful lake views. Park visitors can walk to the Trinity Bridge, built with limestone blocks in 1836, and the Bog Garden with its log stepping stones. There is a tunnel near the lakeside restaurant which was built to allow staff to bring supplies from the lake to the house without being seen. The part has a fully serviced caravan park. The Park has a modern Visitor Centre which is open all year round, with magnificent views over the Lough. MacDermott's castle dates back to the 18th century but is now in ruins. Legends According to legend, the name of the lake comes from Ce', a druid who drowned when the lake was formed. Another legend tells the story of Una, the daughter of the MacDermott chief, who was in love with a lower class boy. Her father prevented her from leaving the island. Her boyfriend swam over to her island once too often and drowned in the lake. Of course, the poor girl died of grief, and both her and the boy are supposed to be buried on the island, beneath two intertwined trees which grew over them.

Rindown Castle on a narrow promontory in Lough Ree in County Roscommon is one of the most historically significant and dramatically situated medieval settlements in the Irish Midlands. Established by the Anglo-Normans in the thirteenth century as a forward base for extending power into Connacht, the promontory site almost surrounded by water offered exceptional natural defences. The ruins are remarkably complete in plan: castle, town walls, gate towers, church remains and earthwork traces of the medieval street pattern all survive, giving a vivid impression of the ambitious planned settlement that was never fully realised before gradual abandonment preserved its medieval fabric unusually intact. Managed by the Office of Public Works and freely accessible, Rindown offers one of the most evocative medieval townscape experiences in Ireland.

Roscommon Castle is one of the largest medieval castle ruins in Connacht, a late thirteenth-century Anglo-Norman enclosure castle with D-shaped corner towers and an elaborate twin-towered gatehouse, built to establish royal authority in western Ireland following military campaigns against the O'Conor kings. The castle was repeatedly attacked and recaptured by the O'Conors who regarded it as an alien imposition on their ancestral territory. In the seventeenth century the castle was refortified with new mullioned windows and fireplaces, evidence still visible in the surviving towers. The town of Roscommon also preserves a Dominican priory founded in 1253 by Felim O'Conor, whose effigy tomb is one of the finest pieces of medieval sculpture in Connacht.