Parke's Castle

Parke's Castle (also known as Newtown Castle and O'Rourke's Castle) is a 17th century semi-fortified manor house, situated on the northeast shore of Lough Gill. The castle is built on the site of an earlier sixteenth-century O'Rourke (Uí Ruairc) Gaelic tower house. The castle and bawn had come into the possession of Robert Parke by 1628, possibly earlier. He had been granted some of the former O'Rourke lands as part of the Plantations. By 1635, Parke had completed his fortified manor house on the site of the older Gaelic castle.

Once the Parke family were deceased, the castle passed to the Gore family by the late 1670s, and the manor house was last lived in around 1700. The building quickly became a ruin and remained uninhabited for over 300 years. The bawn was used as a farmyard and stables by the residents of Newtown village right up until the mid-20th century. The building was acquired by the Office of Public Works in 1935.

Excavations directed by Claire Foley between 1971 and 1975 revealed the foundations of O'Rourke's tower house and a number of other structures within the bawn. The castle was restored and refurbished between 1980 and 1988, and has been open to the public on a seasonal basis since 1990.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Kilmore, Manorhamilton, Ireland

Details

Founded: 1635
Category: Castles and fortifications in Ireland