6 castles, from Norman keeps to the tower houses that Gaelic and Anglo-Irish families raised in their hundreds — and the ones that are now four walls and a jackdaw.
Ballycowan Castle is a castle located 4 km west of Tullamore, County Offaly. It was built in 1589 as a fortified house by Thomas Morres. The castle was built on the previous site of the O’Molloy castle or tower house called Baile-mhic-Abhainn which was destroyed by a fire in 1557.
Birr Castle (Irish: Caisleán Bhiorra) is a castle in the town of Birr in County Offaly, Ireland. It is the home of Brendan Parsons, 7th Earl of Rosse and his family, and as such the castle is generally not open to the public, though the grounds and gardens of the demesne are publicly accessible, and include a science museum and a café, a…
Charleville Castle is a Gothic-style castle located in County Offaly, Ireland, bordering the town of Tullamore, near the River Clodiagh. It is considered one of the finest of its type in the country.
Clonony (Irish: Cluain Damhna Beag) is a small village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is noted for Clonony Castle, a late medieval tower house built in 1500. The village is between the River Brosna and the Grand Canal, in the parish of Gallen and Reynegh. The nearest town is Cloghan, 2.8 km (1.7 mi) to the south-east along the R357 road.
Kinnitty Castle or Castle Bernard is a 19th-century gothic revival castle and hotel in Kinnitty (Cionn Eitigh), County Offaly, Ireland. It is located contiguous to Droughtville and Lettybrook, north of the Slieve Bloom Mountains on the R421 regional road between the villages of Kinnitty and Cadamstown.
Leap Castle (; Irish: Caisleán Léim Uí Bhánáin (IPA:[ˈkaʃlʲaːn̪ˠlʲeːmʲiːˈwaːn̪ˠaːnʲ])) is a castle in Roscrea, County Offaly, Ireland, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north of the town of Roscrea and 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Kinnitty on the R421.
Descriptions are Wikipedia's own opening lines, used under CC BY-SA 4.0 with a link to each article; the list and the coordinates come from the same place. Nothing here is a guide to access — many of these are private homes or stand in private fields.
What stood in Offaly before anybody thought of building a keep.