Ross Castle
A handsome fifteenth-century tower house on the shore of Lough Leane, Ross Castle was a stronghold of the O'Donoghue chieftains and the last place in Munster to hold out against Cromwell's army. Restored and furnished in period style, it is shown by guided tour, and its lakeside setting is the departure point for boats to the monastic island of Innisfallen.
Ross Castle stands on a low promontory reaching into Lough Leane, a couple of miles from the centre of Killarney town and firmly within Killarney National Park. It was raised in the late fifteenth century by the O'Donoghue Mór, one of the great Gaelic ruling families of the district, and it is a fine example of the tower houses that Irish lords built for themselves in that age - tall and square, with rounded turrets on opposing corners and a stone chute above the door for discouraging unwelcome guests.
Its great moment came in 1652. By then the castle had passed through the MacCarthys towards the Browne family, and it found itself the last significant stronghold in the province of Munster still holding out against Cromwell's forces. An old prophecy held that Ross could never be taken until a warship swam on the lake - so when the Parliamentary general Edmund Ludlow had boats hauled up the River Laune and floated onto Lough Leane, the defenders, seeing the prophecy apparently fulfilled, lost heart and soon surrendered.
Today the castle has been carefully restored and furnished with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century oak pieces, and the interior is shown only on a guided tour, which climbs the tight spiral stair through the living quarters to the battlements. Outside there are gentle lakeshore walks, and from the nearby pier private operators run boats out to Innisfallen Island, whose ruined abbey was a centre of learning more than a thousand years ago. Local legend insists that O'Donoghue himself sleeps beneath the lake and rides out across it on a white horse at dawn on the first of May.
The castle sits at the end of its own road off the N71, with parking and a short walk to the door. The interior is open seasonally, roughly spring through autumn, and tours run on a first-come basis with limited numbers, so it pays to arrive early in the busy months; allow around forty minutes for the tour itself. Admission is modest, but exact prices and dates shift year to year, and the steep entrance and stairs make the upper floors difficult for wheelchair users.
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