Granuaile's Castle is a

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

and

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

located in

Clare Island Clare Island ( or ''Oileán Chliara''), also historically Inishcleer, is a mountainous island guarding the entrance to Clew Bay in County Mayo, Ireland. Historically part of the kingdom of Umhaill, it is famous as the home of the 15th century pi ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Location

Granuaile's Castle is located on the east coast of

History

Granuaile's Castle was built in the 16th century by the Ó Máille (O'Malley),

Kings of Umaill The Kings of Umaill were rulers of Umaill, a kingdom or territory located in the west of what is now County Mayo, Ireland. Its earliest rulers were the semi-historical Tuath mhac nUmhoir. The Umaill, its early historical rulers, were renamed t ...

. It was a stronghold of

Gráinne Ní Mháille Grace O'Malley ( – c. 1603), also known as Gráinne O'Malley ( ga, Gráinne Ní Mháille, ), was the head of the Ó Máille dynasty in the west of Ireland, and the daughter of Eóghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. In Irish folklore she is commonly k ...

(Grace O'Malley, c. 1530 – c. 1603), the famous "pirate queen." Her other strongholds were at

Rockfleet Castle Rockfleet Castle, or Carrickahowley Castle (Irish: ''Carraig an Chabhlaigh''), is a tower house near Newport in County Mayo, Ireland. It was built in the mid-fifteenth century, and is most famously associated with Grace O'Malley Grace O'M ...

(on

Clew Bay Clew Bay (; ga, Cuan Mó) is a natural ocean bay in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland. It contains Ireland's best example of sunken drumlins. The bay is overlooked by Croagh Patrick to the south and the Nephin Range mountains of North Mayo. C ...

) and

Carrickkildavnet Castle Carrickkildavnet Castle or Kildavnet Castle is a tower house and National Monument located in Achill Island, Ireland. Location Carrickkildavnet Castle is located in the southeast corner of Achill Island, across from the Corraun Peninsula. This ...

. In the 1820s the castle was converted into a

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

barracks, when the purple

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

flashing was added to the two

bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from the ...

Building

The main living room was at that first floor level with access to the

s and the

garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...

References

{{Reflist National Monuments in County Mayo Castles in County Mayo