Free entry for English Heritage members
This place is cared for by the Office of Public Works, which runs Ireland's national heritage sites as Heritage Ireland. English Heritage members are entitled to free entry to all OPW sites from the first year of membership. Show your current membership card at admissions.
More information
Arrive on foot, by bike or by public transport.
OPW names no car park: the castle is in the centre of Roscrea, with council car parks at Gantly Road off Main Street and Rosemary Square about 200 m away; their tariffs are not stored. OPW links Transport for Ireland's journey planner for buses to Roscrea, which also has a railway station.
Driving pin: OPW's own pin on the castle at Castle Street; Google's listing is at Damer House 24 m away.
In the centre of the heritage town of Roscrea stands a magnificent stone castle of the 1280s, a place of medieval might and eighteenth-century elegance. The gate tower and curtain wall enclose a courtyard where the banqueting hall keeps its original ceiling; the castle was a barracks from 1798, housing 350 soldiers, and later a school, a library and even a sanatorium. Within its walls stands Damer House, named for the merchant John Damer who acquired the castle in the eighteenth century, a handsome example of pre-Palladian architecture with nine bay windows and a room furnished in period style, and behind it a walled garden with a fountain. Nearby on Church Street the restored Black Mills display St Crónán's high cross and pillar stone. In 2026 the castle and mills opened for guided tours Wednesday to Sunday at a reduced charge while Damer House is closed all year for accessibility and garden works; the season has ended and 2027 arrangements are not yet published.
In 2026 the castle and Black Mills opened for guided tours Wednesday to Sunday from 19 March, with the page banner giving 14 October as the last day (the opening-times block says November without a day), at a reduced €3 admission; a June 2026 visitor found tower tours on the hour and the gardens open to walk through. Damer House is closed for the whole of 2026 for works funded by Fáilte Ireland's €2.97 million Regenerative Tourism and Placemaking award, and OPW has published no 2027 dates, hours or prices (2025 ran 20 March to 15 October daily 10:00 to 18:00, last tour 17:15, at €5 for adults).
A lift is listed; the castle interior is largely empty, with the architecture and the banqueting hall ceiling the interest, and no photography is allowed inside Damer House. Picnic area; no toilets, cafe or shop listed. The Black Mills stand 160 m away on Church Street.
Photo: Roscrea Castle's tall stone gate tower seen from the gravelled courtyard, with the curtain wall and lower buildings beside it. EamonnHoran, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roscrea_Castle.._._a_view_from_Damer_House.JPG. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
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