Ireland · Restored
Foulksrath Castle
Foulksrath Castle is a medieval Anglo-Norman tower house near Jenkinstown, County Kilkenny, Ireland, whose present main tower dates from the early 15th century. The site includes the four-storey tower, surviving sections of its bawn (outer) wall, ancillary buildings and the remains of a surrounding moat; it is preserved and has been restored in modern times.
Its prime
1420
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1420
What Foulksrath Castle looked like in its prime.
A tall, rectangular four-storey stone tower house of grey rubble masonry with a crenellated parapet and a pitched roof set over the tower’s centre; narrow vertical slit and rectangular window openings punctuate the façades. The tower rises directly from a walled bawn with lower ancillary buildings of matching stone and a visible arched entrance through the curtain wall; traces of a surrounding moat form a shallow ditch around the outer wall. Trees stand close to the bawn and the tower shows simple, functional verticality.
Its story
The story of Foulksrath Castle.
The estate and its original fortified, moated dwelling were first built in 1349 and occupied by the De Frene family — the castle is thought to take its name from Fulco De Frene. In the early fifteenth century the present tower was built by the Purcells, relatives of the De Frenes, after the estate came into their possession; a family of Purcell peasant farmers was still living in the castle grounds in 1777.
In that year the castle and lands were let to Thomas Wright, whose family occupied the castle until 1861. The Swifts — relatives of Jonathan Swift — were associated with it from at least 1857, and according to John Gibb, writing in the Old Kilkenny Review in 1948, the Swift family purchased the castle in 1898.
An Óige, the Irish Youth Hostel Association, bought Foulksrath from the Swifts in 1946 with community support and ran it as a hostel until it closed in 2009. The four-storey tower, most of its bawn wall, ancillary buildings and the remains of the moat survive, and the castle is now privately owned.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1420.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Foulksrath Castle — including 1 interior: narrow spiral staircase within the tower. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Foulksrath Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1420 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Foulksrath Castle.
The families that held Foulksrath Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
De Frene
The De Frene family built and occupied the original moated dwelling from 1349.
Purcell
The Purcells, relatives of the De Frenes, built the present tower in the early 15th century; Purcells remained on the grounds as late as 1777.
The Swift family, relatives of Jonathan Swift, purchased the castle in 1898 and held it until 1946.
