Built by Conor Liath O'Connor Kerry in the 1490s and standing 86 feet high, Carrigafoyle commanded the shipping lanes on the Shannon Estuary supplying Limerick, earning the nickname 'guardian of the Shannon'. It was destroyed by cannon fire during a 1580 siege in the Second Desmond Rebellion and never rebuilt.
Visiting Carrigafoyle Castle
Yes — ruin freely accessible near Ballylongford.
"Built by Conor Liath O'Connor Kerry in the 1490s and standing 86 feet high, Carrigafoyle commanded the shipping lanes on the Shannon Estuary supplying Limerick, earning the nickname 'guardian of the Shannon'."
Where to stay nearby
The closest castle hotel is Ballyseede Castle, 35.53 km away in Tralee — 15th-century castle, chief garrison of the Fitzgerald Earls of Desmond; the current structure dates to 1721 after the earlier castle passed to the Blennerhassett family, and it became a hotel in 1965.
