Ireland · Partial ruin
Maynooth Castle
Caisleán Mhaigh Nuad
Maynooth Castle is a medieval castle in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, that served as the principal residence of the Fitzmaurice and Fitzgerald lords of Kildare. Much of the medieval complex was ruined in sieges and later conflicts; today only parts including the gatehouse and the Solar Tower survive and the site is open to visitors as a heritage site.
Its prime
1500
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1500
What Maynooth Castle looked like in its prime.
A massive rectangular stone keep of pale grey-brown coursed masonry rises several storeys with narrow vertical slit windows and a simple plinth base; an adjoining gatehouse sits to one side, its masonry matching the keep. The building fronts a compacted gravel courtyard edged by mature trees and low stone steps; walls show coursed rubble and dressed quoins. At its prime the keep and gatehouse would be linked by curtain walls with parapets and crenellations, enclosing a central courtyard.
Its story
The story of Maynooth Castle.
Strongbow's Grant and the Keep of 1203
The area covered by modern County Kildare was granted by Strongbow to Maurice Fitzgerald, Lord of Llanstephan, in 1176. The original keep was raised about 1203. The castle was built at the junction of two streams by Maurice's second eldest son, Gerald Fitzmaurice, 1st Lord of Offaly, and became the home of the Fitzmaurice and Fitzgerald family. Sir John Fitzgerald enlarged it in the 15th century. Gerald Fitzmaurice's descendants rose to be Earls of Kildare and Earls of Leinster, and Lords Deputy of Ireland.
Silken Thomas and Skeffington's Siege Guns, 1534–1537
The Fitzgerald occupation of the castle ended with the 1534 rebellion of Silken Thomas, son of the ninth Earl of Kildare. An English force led by William Skeffington bombarded the place in March 1535, the heavy modern siege guns of the English army making a ruin of much of the medieval structure. The castle fell after a ten-day siege, and the garrison was summarily executed before the castle gate. Silken Thomas was captured shortly afterwards and committed to the Tower of London with his five uncles; they were executed for treason at Tyburn on 3 February 1537.
Richard Boyle's Rebuilding and the Eleven Years War, from 1630
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, restored the castle in 1630–35, after his daughter married George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare; the united arms of the Boyles and the FitzGeralds can still be read on the gatehouse. Much of that building was destroyed in the 1640s during the Eleven Years War, and only the gatehouse and the Solar Tower survive. The Fitzgeralds left Maynooth Castle for good, making first Kilkea Castle and then Carton House the family seat.
A National Monument at the University Gate, from 2000
The Office of Public Works restarted restoration work in February 2000 to develop the ruin as a heritage site. Maynooth Castle is a national monument of Ireland and stands at the entrance to the South Campus of Maynooth University, open to the public from May to September, with access to the partly ruined building limited.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1500.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Maynooth Castle, including 2 interiors: gatehouse passage (under the gate), solar tower chamber (interior). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Recreate Maynooth Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Maynooth Castle.
The families that held Maynooth Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Principal seat of the Fitzmaurice and Fitzgerald Earls of Kildare from the early 13th century until the 1534 rebellion of Silken Thomas.
Nearby
