The castle was built in 1480 by Diarmaid O’Dea. It was badly damaged by Cromwellian forces in 1651. It is close to the site of the 1318 Battle of Dysert O’Dea, where Norman overlord Richard de Clare was defeated and killed by Murtagh O’Brien, king of Thomond and his allies the O’Deas. The castle now houses a museum.
Dysert O’Dea,
Corofin,
Co. Clare.
The building dates from the 1220s. It was captured by the O'Tooles in 1331 but recovered shortly afterwards and held thereafter by the Bishopric of Ferns. In the 1370s it was again captured, this time by the MacMurroughs, who lost it to Lord Grey in 1536. The castle was demolished by Cromwellian soldiers in 1649.
Ferns Castle
Ferns,
Co. Wexford.
Based in a fort constructed during the Napoleonic Wars and situated close to where the ‘flight’ took place, exhibits explain how in 1607 Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone, Rory O’Donnell, earl of Tyrconnell and Cuchonnacht Maguire, lord of Fermanagh fled Ireland. The government declared their leaving treasonous and confiscated their lands to make way for the Ulster Planatation.
Rathmullan Harbour
Co. Donegal.
Tel:
Open Easter weekend.
Mid May to Mid September: Mon-Sat, 10.00 am-6.00 pm
Sunday: 12.00-6.00 pm.
Admission charged.
This memorial garden was opened in 1966 and is dedicated to those who gave their lives for Irish independence.
Parnell Square East ,
Dublin 1.
Opening Tmes
Every day.
Summer: 9.30am to 8.00pm
Winter: 11.00am to 4.00pm.
Admission free.
Displays and an audio-visual presentation tell the story of Grace O'Malley the legendary ‘pirate queen' who ruled over this part of the west coast during the late 1500s. Her navy defeated English forces deployed to subdue her in 1574 and 1579. In 1588 she captured ships belonging to the Spanish Armada and massacred their crews, for which Queen Elizabeth received her in state.
Granuaile Centre,
Off main street
Louisburgh, Co. Mayo.
Tel:
Fax:
Opening Times
June-mid September.
A coastal artillery site was built at Grey Point on the shores of Belfast Lough between 1904 and 1907, to provide security for Belfast port. Housing 6 inch guns and two mark VII saluting guns, it was operational during both world wars and remained manned until 1957. With the fort’s closure its guns were removed. When in 1987 the fort was restored as a historic site, two 6 inch guns Mark VII, were donated by the Irish Defence Forces from coastal defence forts in Cork Harbour .
The Fort,
Helen’s Bay,
Co. Down BT19 1LE
Opening times:
April to September: 10:00 to 17:00
Admission is free.
The centre is devoted to Ireland ’s Celtic heritage. Killaloe was the birthplace of Brian Boru, king of Munster and the most successful of the old Irish kings.
This centre is also known as the Brian Boru Heritage Centre
Killaloe,
Co. Clare.
Opening Times:
May to September: 10.00am-6.00pm, May-September
From 1788 King House was a barracks in which the headquarters of the Roscommon Militia and from 1881 the 4 th (Militia) Battalion of the Connaught Rangers (88 th Foot) was located A permanent exhibition traces the history of the Connaught Rangers, focusing on recruitment, living conditions and the regiment's campaigns, including the mutiny in India in July 1920.
King House
Main Street,
Boyle,
Co. Roscommon
Opening Times
April to September: Tuesday to Saturday at 11am with last admissions at 4pm.
Also open Easter weekend, BH Sundays and Mondays during season.
Built originally between 1200 and 1210, the castle was captured by Edward Bruce's forces in 1316, the O'Briens and MacNamaras in 1369, Confederate Catholics in 1642 and Cromwell's army in 1651. It withstood the Williamite army in 1690 but was captured by them a year later.
King Johns Castle
Kings Island
Limerick city.
Tel: 061 360788
Fax: 061 361020
Web: King Johns Castle Website
Opening Times
Admission is all year round (closed on Dec 24th, 25th & 26th).
From April to September: 9:30am-5:30pm, last admission 4.00pm.
October to March: 9:30am-4:30pm, last admission 3:15pm.
The castle, seat of the MacNamara family from 1467, was occupied by Cromwellian forces as a consequence of Douglas MacNamara’s participation in the 1641 rebellion.
Quin
Co. Clare.
Opening Times:
May to August: 10am to 4:30pm with the last admission 4pm.
Former home of the poet Francis Ledwidge, a member of the Irish Volunteers who joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 1914, saw service with the 10 th (Irish) Division at Gallipoli and was killed while serving with the 16 th (Irish) Division near Ypres, Belgium in 1917.
Opening Times
7 days a week: 10.00am-1.00pm, 2.00pm-5.30pm.
Admission charged.
A fortress of the Desmond family it was granted in 1584 to Sir Thomas Norreys, lord president of Munster . It held out against the Confederates in 1645 and fell into disuse soon after.
Mallow
Co. Cork
Great stone castle built around 1200 and the principal stronghold of the Kildare FitzGeralds, one of Ireland’s most powerful families of the Middle Ages. In 1316 King Edward II raised John fitz Thomas Fitzgerald to the earldom of Kildare for his It was captured by Henry VIII’s Lord Deputy in Ireland , Sir William Skeffington, in 1535 after a siege involving one of the first uses of siege guns in Ireland .
Despite the garrison’s surrender they were all killed. It again saw fighting during the 1641 rebellion.
Maynooth Castle
Maynooth,
Co. Kildare.
Opening Times
30 May - 25 September: Open Wednesday to Sunday and Bank Holidays - 10.00 - 18.00
Average Length of Visit: 45 minutes
Last guided tour 16.30. Grounds close 17.45.
Admission charged.
Great stone castle built around 1200 and the principal stronghold of the Kildare FitzGeralds, one of Ireland’s most powerful families of the Middle Ages. In 1316 King Edward II raised John fitz Thomas Fitzgerald to the earldom of Kildare for his It was captured by Henry VIII’s Lord Deputy in Ireland , Sir William Skeffington, in 1535 after a siege involving one of the first uses of siege guns in Ireland . Despite the garrison’s surrender they were all killed. It again saw fighting during the 1641 rebellion.
Maynooth Castle
Maynooth,
Co. Kildare.
Opening Times
30 May - 25 September: Open Wednesday - Sunday and Bank Holidays - 10.00 - 18.00
Average Length of Visit: 45 minutes
Last guided tour 16.30. Grounds close 17.45
The Mayo Peace Park was set up following a public meeting held on Thursday the 22nd of August 2002 and is operated by a voluntary committee, which is elected on an annual basis. It gained charitable status under the revenue regulations in the Republic of Ireland. The Mayo Peace Park, Garden of Remembrance, remembers and commemorates the Mayo military men and women who died in worldwide conflicts, on UN service and Gardaí in the course of their official duty within the state.
Interactive displays explain the political and social background to the rebellion of 1798. Audio-visual presentations bring alive the reality of the bloody warfare that saw eleven major battles take place in Wexford in just four weeks, with 20,000 fatalities. Artefacts and weapons from the period are on permanent display in the museum. School groups are particularly welcome.
National 1798 Visitor Centre
Enniscorthy,
Co. Wexford
Opening Times
Summer (1st April to 30th September): 09:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Winter (1st October to 31st March):10.00 a.m - 4.00 p.m
Weekends & Bank Holidays 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Site of the National War Memorial Gardens built as a permanent tribute to the Irish dead of the World War One, the Gardens now also commemorate Irish fatalities of World War Two. Sunken rose gardens and extensive tree planting make the site an area of great beauty. Four granite Bookrooms contain the names of the 49,400 Irish dead of 1914-1918 in Ireland’s Memorial Records.
National War Memorial Park
Islandbridge,
Dublin 8.
Open Times
Monday to Friday: 8am
Saturday and Sunday: 10am
Gardens Close: According to Daylight hours
Access to Bookrooms: by arrangement with local management
Admission free.
It is a restored plantation castle of the early 17th century, picturesquely situated on the shores of Lough Gill, once the home of Robert Parke and his family. This was formerly the stronghold of the O'Rourkes, the local overlords during the Middle Ages. Sir Brian O'Rourke was executed at Tyburn, London in 1591.
Parkes Castle
Fivemile Bourne.
Tel: 071 64149
Web: Parkes Castle Website
Opening Times
30th March - 18th Sept: Daily 10.00 - 18.00
Last admission 45 minutes before closing
Average Length of Visit: 1 Hour
A small restored cottage overlooking the breathtaking lakes and mountains of Connemara, used by Patrick Pearse (1879-1916) leader of the 1916 Rising, as a summer residence and summer school for his pupils from St Endas, in Dublin
Inbhear,
near Rosmuc Village,
Co. Galway.
Opening Times
Easter Saturday, Sunday, Monday: 10.00am-5.00pm.
June-September daily, 10.00am-6.00pm.
Admission charged.
Interactive museum and heritage centre which explains the military and political background to the Ulster Plantations. Following the defeat of the nine years insurrection, the submission of the major Gaelic lords during the early 1600s and the ‘Flight of the Earls’ in 1607 the Crown confiscated land in Donegal, Tyrone and Fermanagh and granted it to English and Scottish planters.
50 High Street
Draperstown
Co. Derry .
Open Times:
Easter-September: Monday-Saturday - 10.00am-5.00pm - Sunday - 1.00pm-5.00pm.
October to -Easter: Monday to Friday - 10.00am-4.00pm.
Admission charged.