Carlow Castle

Carlow Castle is situated near the River Barrow in the town of Carlow, Ireland. This site was developed by the Anglo-Norman settlers who established their stronghold following the Norman invasion of Ireland in the late 12th and early 13th centuries.

The earliest known fortification on this site was a motte-and-bailey castle built during the 1180s by Hugh de Lacy for a man named John de Clahull. This initial wooden and earthwork castle provided a defensive position in the region during the period of Norman consolidation. Between 1207 and 1213, William Marshal, a prominent Anglo-Norman lord, replaced the earlier structure with a stone castle, likely one of the first of its kind in the British Isles to feature four circular corner towers around a central keep.

The castle is first mentioned in historical records in 1231. Over the following centuries, ownership changed multiple times. The castle came under Crown control in 1306 and was granted to the Earls of Norfolk, a powerful noble family, until the Crown confiscated it in 1537. During the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Carlow Castle was involved in local conflicts; it was captured by James Fitzgerald in 1494 and again seized by Thomas Fitzgerald in 1535, reflecting the turbulent power struggles in the region.

In 1616, Donagh O’Brien, the Earl of Thomond, acquired the castle, beginning a period of ownership by this noble family. The castle’s strategic position made it a site of conflict during the Irish Confederate Wars in the mid-17th century. Irish rebels took control of the castle in 1641, but English forces reclaimed it in 1642. During this recovery, approximately 500 English prisoners, held by the rebels and suffering from starvation, were freed. Later, in 1650, Henry Ireton, a prominent English general, retook the castle, after which it was restored to the Earls of Thomond before eventually passing to the Hamilton family.

In the early 19th century, specifically in 1813, the Hamilton family leased the castle to Dr. Philip Perry Price Middleton, who intended to transform it into a psychiatric hospital. During construction work to create an underground corridor, an accidental explosion in February 1814 demolished the eastern wall and its adjoining towers. This dramatic event significantly damaged the structure, leading to further decay as local people removed stones from the ruined sections.

Archaeological interest in the castle resumed in the late 20th century. Excavations conducted in 1996 uncovered aspects of the earlier fortifications beneath the stone castle, confirming the location of the original wooden motte-and-bailey castle from the 1180s. These findings helped illuminate the site’s long history of occupation and defense.