Carrickahowley (Rockfleet) Castle County Mayo

Rockfleet Castle, or Carrickahowley Castle ( Irish: ''Carraig an Chabhlaigh''), 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 ...

near Newport in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the yew trees") is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Counci ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

. It was built in the mid-fifteenth century, and is most famously associated with

Grace O'Malley 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 ...

, the 'pirate queen' and chieftain of the Clan O’Malley. The castle has been speculated as her place of death. It is also known as Carraigahowley, which means “rock of the fleet”. Rockfleet Castle has four floors and is over eighteen metres in height looking out towards the drumlins of Clew Bay. Though entry to the castle was once available to the public, it is now strictly prohibited for safety reasons. The castle was installed with a metal walkway in 2015, from its adjacent grassland surrounding to its door due to the sheer inconvenience of accessing its entrance during high tides. In 2017, the exterior masonry was pointed.

References

External links

*
Photographs of Rockfleet Castle (By Frank Cawley), accessed: 5 January 2009
Castles in County Mayo National Monuments in County Mayo Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland {{Ireland-archaeology-stub