Ireland · Restored
Tyrrellspass Castle
Tyrrellspass Castle is a medieval Irish tower house in Tyrrellspass, County Westmeath, dating to circa 1411. It is the surviving seat of the Tyrrell family and was later restored and converted to a restaurant. The building is a stone tower house with attached domestic range and crenellated roofline.
Its prime
1411
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1411
What Tyrrellspass Castle looked like in its prime.
A roughly 20-metre-high rectangular tower house of grey-brown rubble stone with a crenellated parapet crowning a flat roofline; narrow vertical slit windows punctuate the elevations. The ground level features an arched entrance with a murder-hole above. To the tower's right is a lower two-storey domestic block with a pitched roof abutting the tower. The structure sits on low-lying farmland beside the village approach and appears complete with intact battlements and roof in its prime.
Its story
The story of Tyrrellspass Castle.
Tyrrellspass Castle, dating to around 1411, is the only remaining castle of the Tyrrells, who came to Ireland around the time of the Norman invasion. It is a classic tower house, roughly 20 metres of superimposed stone chambers, essentially defensive, with a murder-hole beside the entrance door, the original spiral staircase, and one of the original roof beams, dating from 1280, still exposed inside.
The castle and surrounding land were later acquired by the Rochfort family, who became the Earls of Belvedere; in 1796 the 2nd earl leased the castle to the army as a barracks. In 1850 ownership passed to Charles Brinsley Marlay, grandson of the 1st earl's only daughter, and from him to Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Howard-Bury, the explorer, who sold off the houses on the estate.
After a tumultuous history of intrusion, the castle was extensively restored in the 1970s by the Mullingar architect Philip Ginnell, who made it his family residence. It has since been converted to a restaurant, where the 1280 roof beam remains an exposed feature of "the lounge".
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1411.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Tyrrellspass Castle, including 2 interiors: interior spiral staircase, great hall with exposed roof beam. 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 Tyrrellspass Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1411, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Tyrrellspass Castle.
The families that held Tyrrellspass Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Tyrrell
Seat of the Tyrrells from c.1411, the only remaining castle of the family, who came to Ireland around the time of the Norman invasion.
Rochfort
Held by the Rochfort family, Earls of Belvedere; the 2nd earl leased the castle to the army as a barracks in 1796.
