Lea Castle is a ruined medieval castle near

Portarlington, County Laois Portarlington, historically called Cooletoodera (from ), is a town on the border of County Laois and County Offaly, Ireland. The River Barrow forms the border. The town was recorded in the 2016 census as having a population of 8,368. History ...

. A timber castle was built in the late 12th or early 13th century and replaced by a later stone castle. The remains of the castle mostly date to the 13th century and consist of a four-storey ''

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

'' and a

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the mos ...

. The castle was the property of the FitzGerald family, who held the title

Earl of Kildare Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

from 1316. The FitzGeralds in the 1290s clashed fiercely with the powerful Richard de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, and in 1294-5 they held him prisoner in Lea Castle for several months, until Parliament secured his release.Otway-Ruthven, A.J. ''A History of Medieval Ireland'' Barnes and Noble reprint New York 1993 p.211

References

Bibliography

* *{{citation , first=Kieran , last=O'Conor , chapter=Anglo-Norman castles in Co. Laois , title=Laois, History and Society , pages=183–212 , publisher=Geography Publications , year=1999 Castles in County Laois Norman architecture in Ireland