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Castles of County Galway in Ireland - Norman Castles, Irish Tower Houses and Fortified Mansions....Send me an email if you are interested...


I don't want to read this! Just take me to the PHOTOGRAPHS!
Here's what you may find on this site:

A collection of photographs and drawings of the Castles of Galway. Not just the famous and well-known castles, but a little limelight for the lesser-known castles of the area. Each page is organised so as to display 10 photographs of Galway Castles. This has been limited to 10 so as to speed up the loading of the page - too many photographs would slow things down too much. There is just one photograph of each castle, and each one is different. Each photograph is accompanied by a very short history, just to give an idea of the age or importance of the structure, and where possible, its original owner. The Index Pages are organised to present a thumbnail view of the following pages, to give a fore-taste of the pages themselves. Each set of thumbnails is accompanied by a link to the relevant page. The thumbnails themselves are NOT hyperlinked - you must go to the individual page for the photographs. As well as photographs of attractive castles in good condition, I have also added drawings of some castles which no longer exist; and some photographs of the ruinous remains of several castles.  With each page, I have included a small snippet of history of some of the castle builders of Galway - the old order Gaelic Chieftains, the  14 Norman families of the City of the Tribes, and the English adventurers who followed.

 I hope you enjoy these pictures, and that you will let me have your comments. You may also have further information for me about specific castles. So mail me! That's why I have provided the Email link.


Background:

From the earliest earthwork or timber constructions, the great castles of stone finally developed. The earliest stone Castles built in County Galway date back to the 13th century Anglo-Norman invasions of Connacht, and defensive fortifications have been built since that time by both the invading Normans and the Gaelic Chieftains of Ireland whom they gradually displaced over the next several hundred years. Castle building continued from the early 13th century up to the very end of the 17th century. The structures then built were developed & evolved over that period, which covered half a millennium. Initially, there were the massive Anglo-Norman fortifications; built to dominate & intimidate the surrounding hostile territory. These were followed by Hall-houses, which were one or two storey stronghouses built entirely for defensive reasons, to protect garrisons in the manner of a barracks. These were followed in due course by the classic Irish form of the castle, which is termed the Tower House. These towers still dot the county landscape in great numbers, and were developed as family homes for the protection of local chieftains and their retinue. The Tower House in Ireland developed several features unique to the country, including a singular form of battlement.  Galway was particularly well covered by Tower Houses - some parts of the county have remains of up to once such fortification for each 3 square miles. The introduction of gunpowder and artillery into the country in the 17th century spelt the end of these castles as secure places. The final phase of castle building arose from the wealthy landlords of the late 18th and early 19th century. Fortified with the wealth accumulated in the 100 years after the 17th century Cromwellian settlement and the destruction of the old Gaelic order, they gradually moved out of the old castles they inherited, and built new homes. They developed a fashion for revivalist castle building, sometimes building wonderful homes. Many of those are since abandoned or ruined as a result of socio-economic changes; others have survived intact.

It's a wonderful tribute to those early builders that so many of all these fine structures are still in use as homes or as hotels. Many more are being restored, renovated or otherwise being modernised and made habitable; thus ensuring that these wonderful buildings will remain a part of the landscape of Galway for some considerable time to come.


Navigation:

The Photographs are divided into several sections, each containing five pages. In turn, each page contains ten photographs.  The five sections are made up of three sections of castles in good repair; one section of castle drawings; and one section of castles now ruined.  The menu system below will allow you to navigate through the pages individually; or to pick up where you left off before. Additionally, each page has navigation buttons to go forward, back or to return to this home page. In order to help you get the most from these photographs, the menu system has an overview section which provides access to thumbnail pictures of the actual page contents. However you choose to navigate this site, I hope you find these pictures evocative & enjoyable.

ITEMHEIGHT must be equal to or greater than the height of each image stripparam name="HIGHLIGHTCOLOR" value="5c4033"preferred fontpointsizes 12,14 or 16fontstyles can be "plain", "italic", "bold" or "bold-italic"



All these photographs are copyright Patrick Larkin, March 2000.

 

Send your comments, information and requests to me here:

 


AWARDS:

This site has been awarded the Site of the Month award for June 2000 

by the World Castles Library.

This site has been awarded a 3 shamrock rating by Doras, the Irish Internet Site directory, July 2000.

This site has been awarded the WEB KNIGHT SILVER SHIELD AWARD by the Medieval Europe Photo Gallery.

This site has been awarded a GOLDEN WEB AWARD for 2002-2003

 

This site was awarded the Site of the Month award by the European Castles Sitering

Castles on the WebCastles of the World

 

 





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