Glinsk Castle is a tower house and National Monument located in

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Location

Glinsk Castle is located in the centre of Glinsk village, halfway between Creggs and Ballymoe, in the valley of the

River Suck The River Suck ( ) is a river within the Shannon River Basin in Ireland, 133 km (82.5 mi) in length. It is the main tributary of the River Shannon. It meets the Shannon a kilometre south of the village of Shannonbridge. Name The riv ...

History

Glinsk Castle was built in the mid-17th century (begun c. 1628) and is reputed to be the last castle built in Ireland (obviously this depends on one's definition of "castle", for example Glenveagh Castle was constructed in 1870). It was the seat of the Burke baronets of Glinsk. It was gutted by fire, perhaps during the Cromwellian wars, leaving it well preserved. In 1829 Skeffington Gibbon described it as "a terrific roofless pile, haunted by a colony of rats."

Castle

The castle stands on a limestone floor overlooking the countryside; famously, one can see all five counties of

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

. The castle is rectangular with two towers protruding to the south. It has two chimney shafts, each a battery of five diagonal stacks. The windows are mullioned with weepers. Defensive features included gun loops, bartizans and high basements. It was once surrounded by a bawn wall with turrets but little of that remains.

References

{{Reflist National monuments in County Galway Castles in County Galway