page_title: County Carlow
section_title: Castles
hierarchical_section_title: County Carlow / Places of interest / Landmarks / Castles
caption_attribution_description: English: County Carlow, Leighlinbridge Bridge. Wikidata has entry Q55048983 with data related to this item.
context_page_description: County Carlow is a county located in the South-East Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow County Council is the governing local authority.
  The county is named after the town of Carlow, which lies on the River Barrow and is both the county town and largest settlement, with over 40% of the county's population. Much of the remainder of the population also reside within the Barrow valley, in towns such as Leighlinbridge, Muine Bheag, Tinnahinch, Borris and St Mullins. Carlow shares a border with Kildare and Laois to the north, Kilkenny to the west, Wicklow to the east and Wexford to the southeast.
  Carlow is known as "The Dolmen County", a nickname based on the Brownshill Dolmen, a 6,000 year old megalithic portal tomb which is reputed to have the heaviest capstone in Europe, weighing over 100 metric tonnes. The town of Carlow was founded by the Normans in 1207 and the county was shired shortly thereafter, making it one of the oldest counties in Ireland.
context_section_description: The oldest known castles within the county date from the first few centuries AD. The two most common forms of early defensive structures were ringforts and Motte-and-bailey castles. This style of fortification remained prevalent for centuries, persisting even after the Norman Invasion in the 12th century. 
  The Rathvilly Moat, constructed in the 400s, was home to Crimthann mac Énnai, King of Leinster. The town of Rathvilly itself is named after an unknown historic ringfort, derived from the Irish (Irish: Ráth Bhile, meaning "ringfort of the trees").
  The arrival of the Normans was followed by the widespread construction of stone castles and tower houses throughout Ireland. These structures did not entirely supplant the earlier forms of fortification, as evidenced by Castlemore Moat, which is an example of a much later Motte-and-bailey. It was built by Raymond FitzGerald in the 12th century following his conquest of O'Nolan lands in the Barony of Forth. 
  Although stone castles were generally of far superior quality, wooden structures were still favoured by the more mobile Irish kingdoms, as they could be easily constructed and abandoned when necessary. As late as the 1370s, the King of Leinster, Art McMurrough-Kavanagh, is recorded as residing in a large wooden fortress in the woods near Old Leighlin.
  For six centuries, Carlow Castle was the oldest and most imposing stone castle in the county. Built from 1207 to 1213, the town of Carlow grew around it, and it once stood as the centrepiece of the walled medieval town, complete with four towers (of which two survive). The castle endured numerous sieges and conquests, and changed hands dozens of times throughout its history, remaining intact. In 1812 the castle was leased to Dr. Phillip Parry Price Middleton, who intended to convert it into a psychiatric hospital. In an ill-fated attempt at remodelling, Middleton used gunpowder to create cut-and-cover tunnels beneath the castle. This undermined the castle's foundations and its entire eastern side collapsed into rubble. It lay abandoned until the Office of Public Works renovated the site in the 1990s.
  Other notable castles and castle ruins which are listed as National Monuments include the 15th century Leighlinbridge Castle, around which the town of Leighlinbridge grew; Ballymoon Castle, which was constructed in the 13th century near Muine Bheag; and Ballyloughan Castle which belonged to the Kavanagh dynasty until the 16th century.
caption: Leighlinbridge Castle
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