Aughnanure Castle

The site is centred on a near‑square, six‑storey tower house set on a flat rock promontory beside Lough Corrib. Built of dressed and coursed stone in the late fifteenth century, the tower rises with walls that taper inward and is capped by a crenellated parapet. A projecting northwest corner faces the river Drimneen, which forms a natural defensive obstacle at that side.

Defensive features include projecting bartizans that reach about mid‑height and machicolations above the entrance, one of which contains a ceiling opening used as a murder‑hole. The ground floor functioned as a storeroom, reached through an entrance that gives onto a right‑hand guardroom and, to the left, a stone spiral stair that climbs the upper levels. Upper storeys are divided into living and sleeping spaces; one chamber contains a large open fireplace and paired divided windows that served as a main living room.

Surrounding the tower is a distinctive double bawn, where an earlier curtain was later enclosed by a larger outer wall. Two segments of these outer walls survive, and a flanking watchtower stands at the eastern end of the outer enclosure. A separate round watchtower is also recorded within the complex. Along the west side of the outer wall lie the remains of a banqueting hall ruined by the collapse of a natural vault over the river; one wall with a row of windows still stands, and the surviving window surrounds are carved with foliate ornament, including reliefs of grapes and vine motifs.

Within the inner courtyard a small, round tower survives with a carefully worked corbelled stone ceiling and a conical stone roof. Carved water‑spouts are recorded on the tower, and historical descriptions note docks at the site on the lakeshore. The principal tower remains intact to its full six storeys and, while the banqueting hall is largely ruined, the ensemble of tower, bawns and ancillary towers survives to illustrate the castle’s medieval and later phases.