Reeves Castle is a 14th-century

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 ...

(

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

) located in

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

, Ireland. On the

Record of Monuments and Places The Record of Monuments and Places (RMP; ga, Taifead ar Shéadchomharthaí agus Áiteanna) is a list of historical and archaeological sites the Republic of Ireland established under the National Monuments Acts. It can be consulted in county libr ...

it bears the codes ''KD015-001'' (

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

) and ''KD015-002'' (tower house).

Location

Reeves Castle is about north of

Ardclough Ardclough, officially Ardclogh (; ), is a village and community in the parish of Kill, County Kildare, Ireland. It is two miles (3 km) off the N7 national primary road. It is the burial place and probable birthplace of Arthur Guinness, w ...

and south-southwest of

Celbridge Celbridge (; ) is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the ...

. It is located in countryside south of a bend in the

River Liffey The River Liffey (Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River ...

Lyons Estate Lyons Demesne, also Lyons Estate, is a country house and estate in Lyons Hill, County Kildare, Ireland. It is located near Newcastle Demesne and Celbridge, to the northeast of Tipperstown, west of the city centre of Dublin. The Georgian house, c ...

is located to the southeast.

History

Reeves Castle is believed to derive its name from the

Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to: *Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066 * Anglo-Norman language **Anglo-Norman literature * Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...

''rive'', "riverbank," although other sources connect it to the

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

''ruibh'', "

rue ''Ruta graveolens'', commonly known as rue, common rue or herb-of-grace, is a species of '' Ruta'' grown as an ornamental plant and herb. It is native to the Balkan Peninsula. It is grown throughout the world in gardens, especially for its bl ...

." It was built in the 14th century as one of the tower houses whose purpose it was to defend

The Pale The Pale (Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast st ...

from

Gaelic Irish The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languag ...

raiders. In the 16th century it was part of the manor of

Donaghcumper Donaghcumper Church is a ruined medieval church in Celbridge, Ireland. On the Record of Monuments and Places it bears the code ''KD011-013''. Location Donaghcumper Church is located 800 m (½ mile) east of Celbridge town centre, on the R403 ...

; in 1537 the manor, along with Reeves Castle was leased to Sir John Alen; the arms of the Alen family were later affixed to Reeves Castle, and they are still to be seen there, now joined to the newer building. In 1537, ''"le Rew, alias Rewes, and Prioriston"'' consisted of 1 castle, 3 messuages (dwelling houses with outbuildings), 6 cottages, and of land. Reeves castle was burned during the

Irish Rebellion of 1641 The Irish Rebellion of 1641 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1641) was an uprising by Irish Catholics in the Kingdom of Ireland, who wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination, greater Irish self-governance, and to partially or fully reverse the plantatio ...

, by order of Lord Justice John Borlase, but it was listed as "in good repair" in 1649. It is prominently marked in Alexander Taylor's 1783 map of Co Kildare. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was a property of the

Earls of Leitrim Earl of Leitrim was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. History The earldom of Leitrim was created in 1795 for Robert Clements, 1st Viscount Leitrim. He had already been created Baron Leitrim, of Manor Hamilton in the County of Leitrim, in 1 ...

. Today the castle is located on the grain farm of Michael McBennett and is not open to the public.

Building

Reeves Castle is four storeys high with a semi-circular stair tower. The original doorway was in the south wall; in the 18th or 19th century a stone farmhouse was built attached to the south wall of the old castle. An archway built onto the north wall may have provided access to a

bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional spe ...

References

{{Reflist Castles in County Kildare Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland Archaeological sites in County Kildare Towers completed in the 14th century 14th-century establishments in Ireland