About
Carrigafoyle Castle is a late fifteenth-century tower house on Carrig Island, a rocky outcrop at the mouth of the Shannon Estuary near Ballylongford in north Kerry, probably raised in the 1490s by Connor Liath O'Connor. The English called it the Guardian of the Shannon for its command of the shipping lanes to Limerick: at high tide a moat surrounded it and a small dock let boats moor beside the walls. The tower rises five storeys and just over 24 metres, with a winding stair of 104 steps to the top. At Easter 1580, in the Second Desmond Rebellion, fifty Irish and sixteen Spanish defenders held it against Sir William Pelham; on the second day the western wall collapsed under cannon fire and the survivors were put to death. The grounds are free and always open; in summer a caretaker unlocks the tower daily for the steep climb to the top, and at low tide you can walk right round the castle.
Open in daylightFrom OPW Heritage Ireland's published times
- Open any reasonable time in daylight
Opening times may change at short notice.
The grounds and exterior are open at all times. A caretaker opens the castle daily for internal access during the summer season; OPW's notice still gives the 2025 season of 9 May to 28 October, 09:00 to 18:00, and reviewers climbed to the top in May and August 2026 while finding the interior closed in April. No staff are on site, so take care on the 104 steep, tight steps; swallows nest inside in summer. OPW warns that care and caution should be kept throughout a visit to its unguided sites.
No toilets or other facilities. At high tide water surrounds the castle; at low tide you can walk round it. The Wild Atlantic Way discovery point with its interpretation panel stands beside the car park.
Photo: Carrigafoyle Castle's tall tower house mirrored in the high-tide waters of the Shannon Estuary at dusk, with its bawn wall behind. MickReynolds, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:County_Kerry_-_Carrigafoyle_Castle_-_.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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