Ireland · Ruin
Castlekirk
Caisleán na Circe
Castlekirk (Hen's Castle) is a medieval tower house and National Monument standing on a tiny half-acre island in the northwest corner of Lough Corrib, on the approach to Maum. Built in the early 12th century, it remained an occupied fortified residence into the 17th century and today survives as a ruined stone shell rising directly from the water.
Its prime
1546
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1546
What Castlekirk looked like in its prime.
A compact mortared grey-stone tower house sits on a tiny, steep-sided island that drops abruptly into Lough Corrib. The ruin’s silhouette is defined by several thick, roughly rectangular wall-blocks and tower remnants clustered together, their vertical stone faces and rubble masonry visible above low island shrubs. In its prime the roofline would have closed the rectangles into a continuous fortified residence with an intact parapet and battlements, all reflected in the loch.
Its story
The story of Castlekirk.
Built by the Sons of Ruaidrí na Saide Buide, 1100s–1233
Castlekirk occupies a tiny island of half an acre (0.18 ha) in the north-western corner of Lough Corrib, on the approach to Maum, the rock sloping abruptly into the water on every side. The tower house was built early in the twelfth century by the sons of Ruaidrí na Saide Buide, who died in 1118, aided by William FitzAldelm, and is reckoned one of the oldest mortared castles in Ireland.
In 1225 the Lord Justice Sir Edmond Butler caused Odo O'Flatherty to give up Castlekirk to Aedh Ua Conchobair, King of Connaught, as assurance of his fidelity. Eight years later, in 1233, the castle was knocked down by Fedlimid, son of Cathal Crobhdearg Ua Conchobair.
Gráinne Ní Mháille and the Naming of Hen's Castle, from 1546
In 1546, at the age of sixteen, Gráinne Ní Mháille married Dónal an-Chogaidh O'Flaherty, whose aggressive behaviour earned him the nickname 'the Cock'; she in turn was called 'the Hen'. When Dónal was murdered she fought back with fury and with such determination that the castle became known as Hen's Castle, the name it still bears.
From Cromwellian Soldiers in 1654 to National Monument
The island continued to be occupied as a castle until it finally succumbed to Cromwellian soldiers in 1654. In the nineteenth century the ruin was vandalised and its stones removed to build houses in the surrounding district. What is left, at Carrowgarriff, is a castle ruin and a National Monument of Ireland.
The Witch's Hen and the Boats at Midnight
Tradition gives the castle a stranger origin, holding that it was raised in a night by a cock and a hen. The Chief of the Name of Clan Ó Flaithbheartaigh and Lord of Iar Connaught is said to have hired a witch to build it by magic, which she accomplished in a day and a night of spell-casting. She left a magic hen to look after the place, warning that the castle would remain secure as long as the bird was cared for; all went well until severe weather made life difficult and the inhabitants were forced to eat the hen.
Lady Jane Wilde, writing as 'Speranza' in 1888, recorded a second belief about the ruin: that strange lights are sometimes seen flitting through it, and that on certain midnights a crowd of boats gathers round it filled with men dressed in green with red sashes, who row about until the cock crows and then vanish. The country people took the cries of children heard in the air afterwards as a sign of a death somewhere in the region, and of the Sidhe stealing young mortal children away.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1546.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Castlekirk, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Castlekirk with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1546, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Castlekirk.
The families that held Castlekirk for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
O'Flaherty
Held by the O'Flahertys until 1225, when Odo O'Flatherty was made to give up the castle to Aedh Ua Conchobair, King of Connaught.
