Roscommon Castle

Roscommon Castle was begun in 1269 by Robert de Ufford, the justiciar of Ireland, as a royal castle on a quadrangular plan with a twin-towered gatehouse and round towers at each corner - a serious piece of construction on the western edge of English control. It was fought over repeatedly: taken and slighted by the O'Connors within a few years of being built, retaken, held by the O'Connors for much of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and finally reduced by Cromwellian forces in 1652. Large mullioned windows were inserted in the sixteenth century when it was converted toward domestic use, and they sit oddly in the defensive walls. What survives is a substantial shell in a public park with no gate, no ticket and no staff. The masonry is unstabilised in places, the ground inside is uneven and there are open stairs and drops.

What you actually see

• The quadrangular plan - corner towers and a twin-towered gatehouse.
• The inserted windows - sixteenth-century mullions in defensive walls.
• The open access - a substantial castle in a public park, free at any hour.
• The siege damage - the 1652 reduction still legible in the walls.

When to go

April to October for the ground conditions. It is open at any hour with no gate. Half an hour covers the walk around and through it.

Honest expectations

Unstaffed and only partly stabilised - loose masonry, open drops and uneven ground. No interpretation beyond a panel. Grass is muddy after rain.

Nearby

Roscommon town centre and its Dominican priory are close; Rathcroghan is north.