Yet in the majority of cases little or nothing is known locally about the builders, owners or destroyers who have left us these picturesque, if somewhat sad, mementoes of their warfaring existence. Three items of information will in all probability be supplied to the enquirer--that they were built by King John, occupied by the Geraldines, and demolished by Cromwell in person, and indeed if the hill from which the bombardment was carried out is not shown to the stranger his informant is lacking in the general art of story-telling. In some cases the origin of the castles is boldly attributed by tradition to the Danes, thereby unconsciously introducing the much wider controversy as to whether such stone fortresses were known in Ireland before the landing of the Normans at Wexford in 1169. Be this as it may, it was only subsequent to this date that they were built in any number. Both invaders and invaded relied chiefly on these strongholds for obtaining supremacy in their constant struggles. Grants of land were generally given with the condition of erecting a fortified residence. It was only when the introduction of gunpowder rendered such buildings untenable in war, that they were very generally deserted for more comfortable dwellings, and jackdaws alone keep watch to-day from many a crumbling battlement that once echoed a sentinel’s tread, and bovine heads protrude from the doorways from which mailed knights rode forth to battle. I regret to say that space forbids my mentioning by name all those owners of castles and others who have so generously assisted me in compiling the following accounts, but perhaps I may be allowed to specially acknowledge the valuable help I received from the Librarian and Assistant Librarians of the National Library, Dublin, Lord Walter Fitzgerald, and Mr. Herbert Wood, of the Public Record Office. C. L. ADAMS. LONDON, 1904. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION v LEGEND OF KILKEA CASTLE xi ADARE CASTLE 1 ANTRIM CASTLE 9 ARKLOW CASTLE 15 ARTANE CASTLE 18 ATHLONE CASTLE 22 BALLYMOTE CASTLE 27 BALLYSHANNON CASTLE 31 BALLYTEIGUE CASTLE 37 BARBERSTOWN CASTLE 39 BARGY CASTLE 42 BARRYSCOURT CASTLE 45