Roscommon Castle

Roscommon Castle

A great square fortress

In the town of Roscommon, in the centre of Ireland, stand the noble ruins of one of the finest castles in the country. Roscommon Castle was built as a great square, or "quadrangular", fortress, with massive round towers at each of its four corners and a strong twin-towered gatehouse. Even in ruin, its scale and grandeur are impressive, the walls rising over a green field on the edge of the town.

A royal castle

Roscommon Castle was begun in 1269 by Robert de Ufford, the English king's chief governor in Ireland, as a royal castle to extend English power into the lands of Connacht in the west. Its design — a rectangle of high walls with great drum towers at the corners — was one of the most advanced of its age, built to dominate the region.

But this was the homeland of the O'Connors, the Gaelic kings of Connacht, who had no wish to see a great royal fortress rise on their lands. The building of the castle sparked years of conflict.

Fought over again and again

Roscommon Castle was attacked, captured, destroyed and rebuilt many times in its early years. Soon after it was first built, the O'Connors stormed and demolished it. It was rebuilt, taken again, and changed hands repeatedly as the Normans and the O'Connor kings struggled for control of Connacht.

For a long period the O'Connors held the castle, and it became a stronghold of Gaelic power rather than English. Its walls saw centuries of the long, shifting struggle between the two worlds that shaped medieval Ireland.

Later changes and ruin

In the 1500s, during the Tudor age, the castle was modernised, with large mullioned windows added to make it more like a comfortable residence than a grim fortress. But Ireland's wars were not over, and during the conflicts of the 1600s the castle was damaged and finally left in ruin, as so many Irish castles were.

Its great towers and walls, though roofless and broken, still stand to a remarkable height, giving a vivid picture of the power of a medieval royal castle.

A monument in the town

Today Roscommon Castle is a free and open historic site on the edge of the town, much loved by local people and visitors. Its grassy enclosure within the ruined walls is a peaceful place to walk, and the great corner towers and gatehouse make a dramatic sight, especially at sunset.

Visiting today

Visitors can wander the ruins of Roscommon Castle, walking within its great square of walls and admiring the mighty corner towers and the twin-towered gatehouse. Information panels tell the dramatic story of the struggle between the Normans and the O'Connor kings. Grand, historic and freely open to all, Roscommon Castle is one of the finest castle ruins in the heart of Ireland.