Aughnanure Castle (''Caisleán Achadh na nlubhar'' in Irish) is a

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strate ...

Oughterard Oughterard () is a small town on the banks of the Owenriff River close to the western shore of Lough Corrib in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. The population of the town in 2016 was 1,318. It is located about northwest of Galway on the N5 ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is situated in the west of Ireland. It was built by the O' Flaherty's in the 16th century.

History

The castle was built by the O'Flaherty family in the 16th century, one of Connacht's most notable lord families. Aughnanure is one of over 200 tower houses in

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, constructed mainly by

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

and Anglo-Norman land owning families. The tower lies close to the shores of

Lough Corrib Lough Corrib ( ; ) is a lake in the west of Ireland. The River Corrib or Galway River connects the lake to the sea at Galway. It is the largest lake within the Republic of Ireland and the second largest on the island of Ireland (after Lough N ...

, and translates to "the field of the yews" in Irish (''Achadh na nlubhar''). The castle was controlled by the O'Flaherty chieftains until 1572, when it was captured by Sir Edward Fitton, President of Connaught, and granted to a junior member of the clan who accepted the legal formalities of recognizing "

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differen ...

." It was used to blockade Galway during the

Cromwellian Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

invasion. Soon after, it was granted to the Earl of Clanrickard, and then reclaimed by the O'Flahertys. It later fell into the hands of Lord St George as the

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mort ...

of a mortgage.Profile
IrelandsEye.com; retrieved 25 February 2007. It is now managed by the Office of Public Works, the Irish State body responsible for national monuments and historic properties.

References

External links

Photos of Aughnanure Castle
startpage.ie; accessed 2 December 2016. Buildings and structures completed in the 16th century Castles in County Galway Ruins in the Republic of Ireland National Monuments in County Galway O'Flaherty dynasty Historic house museums in the Republic of Ireland Museums in County Galway Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland {{Galway-geo-stub