Lets take a breather from the Black Friday madness for a moment !!!

Come along with me and let’s head out into the Irish countryside to take a virtual stroll and visit Roscommon Castle.

The county of Roscommon is located in the midlands of Ireland. In fact it’s located almost in the dead centre of our island and the town of Roscommon is the largest in the county . Come along with me today to visit the imposing castle that stands on the outskirts of the town .

It’s a bright and clear day as we travel to Roscommon Town, lets head through the narrow streets and turn left on castle street , which leads us to a car park and local parkland in which the castle stands.

As we are early we will have the place to ourselves,let’s get out and have a look around. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman Mac Faelchon who built a monastery there in the 5th century and the castle that we are going to visit has stood here since 1269.

Having parked the car, we can see the castle not too far away. Nowadays the local council has developed the adjoining 14 acres of land as Loughnaneane Park, there is a lake with some ducks – and a heron – and there are some nice walking trails and a playground. We will stop to say a quick hello to the ducks – what a pity we did not bring some bread to feed them.. After a brisk five minute walk we can enter the castle .

As we head inside take a look at the huge entrance gateway and murder hole overhead – what a handy way to get rid of unwanted guests by dropping stones or boiling water on their heads ! As I mentioned before, the castle was built on this site in 1269 by Robert de Ufford . He laid it out in a quadrangular shape. It had four D shaped towers in each of the corners and twin towers beside the entrance gateway. There are the remains of a moat surrounding the walls and in the centre we can see an open courtyard.

As we have the place to ourselves all we can hear is the screech of the crows…. I will bet this place is really spooky at Halloween !!

Let’s take a walk around. Not long after it was built the Castle was besieged by King Aodh O Conchobair in 1272 and eight years later it became an English garrison. In 1340 is was regained by The O’ Connor family and during the centuries it had a chequered history of being sieged , attacked, blown up, burnt and remodelled.

Take a look at the mullioned windows high up in the towers – these were added in the late 1500’s .

It was finally burnt down in 1690, and what we see today is all that remains of this magnificent stronghold.

Luckily, in recent years it has become a national monument and restoration works have allowed it to be open for us to come visit and enjoy. I think that you will agree it’s great to be able to follow in the footsteps of those who went before us , and to get a real sense of how life went on in a fortified castle like this.

It’s time to hit the road, so let’s head back though the park and back to the car. We have been lucky with the weather today and being nice and early we had an undisturbed visit to this fascinating and impressive castle.

I hope that you enjoyed coming with me today , and see you again next week. If you still have some gift shopping to do it would be more than worth it to take a look at our Black Friday Sale which will stay live for the weekend and here is the link – we still have FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $30 so dont miss out ! https://connemaramarble.com/…/black-friday-connemara…/ #FreeShipping #irelandwalking #tourismireland #bordfailte #gemstonejewelry

Stephen