Macroom Castle

Macroom Castle
Macroom Castle Gatehouse
Coordinates51°54′21″N 8°57′54″W / 51.90583°N 8.96500°W / 51.90583; -8.96500
Built19th century (mostly)
TypeNational
Designated13/07/2009
Reference no.20852020 (Castle)[1]
TypeRegional
Designated17/07/2009
Reference no.20852025 (Gatehouse)[2]
Macroom Castle is located in Ireland
Macroom Castle
Location in Ireland

Macroom Castle, in the centre of the town of Macroom, was once residence and fortress of the Lords of Muskerry. The castle has changed owners many times, has been besieged, burned, and rebuilt. The MacCarthys of Muskerry owned it with some interruptions from about 1353 when Muskerry was given to Dermot MacCarthy, 1st Lord of Muskerry, until 1691 when Donogh MacCarthy, 4th Earl of Clancarty lost it definitively.

What remains of the castle is a gatehouse on the town square and a ruin near the bridge over the River Sullane. This ruin comprises an old tower, everything else dates from an early 19th-century rebuild by Robert Hedges Eyre.