Maynooth Castle - Caisleán Maigh Nuad

This is a late twelth - early thirteenth century castle in the town of Maynooth (Maigh Nuad) in County Kildare (Irish: Contae Chill Dara) in the province of Leinster (Irish: Laighin). It is about thirty kilometres west from Dublin (Irish: Baile Átha Cliath). The Irish name for Maynooth is derived from Nuadha who was one of the gods of the ancient Irish. The Irish name: Maigh Nuadhat or Maigh Nuadhad, means "plain of Nuadha". The castle was built in the late 12th century. It was home to the Fitzgerald family until it fell to English forces after the 'Silken Thomas' rebellion, and the entire defensive garrison was killed in 1535. Silken Thomas refers to Thomas Fitzgerald 10th Earl of Kildare who was executed in London in 1537. The English siege of the castle inlcuded use of heavy guns. This resulted in causing considerable damage to the castle. 

The Castle was restored in 1630-35 by Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, after his daughter had married George FitzGerald, 16th Earl of Kildare. However, much of this building was destroyed during the Eleven Years War in the 1640s. The Eleven Years War, also known as the Irish Confederate Wars, took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. The conflict was fought over governance, land ownership, religious freedom and religious discrimination. In the decades before this conflict there had been mass confiscation of Irish-owned land in Ulster and the introduction of Protestant settlers from England and Scotland. Other smaller ‘plantations’ took place in other parts of Ireland in the first half of the 17th century.  Over this period the English administration confiscated a third of the estate of indigenous landowners. A contributing factor the the outbreak of the war in 1641, was the struggle of Catholic landowners to recover lost estates.

Only the gatehouse and the Solar Tower survive from this period. The united arms of the Boyles and FitzGeralds can still be seen on the gatehouse. Restoration work has now been undertaken on the castle which is open to the public from May to September, 10.00 a.m. - 6.00 p.m. More information on opening times and location can be seen on the link to Heritage Ireland below.

Link: Heritage Ireland Maynooth Castle.

Image: Maynooth Castle in 1885  from the book, "Picturesque Ireland", by John Savage, originally published at that time..