Roscommon castle

Roscommon castle is located on the outskirts of Roscommon town and is surrounded by the stunning 14-acre recreational area called Loughnaneane park and playground.

Regarded as one the finest Anglo-Norman castes in Ireland, the now ruined Roscommon Castle played a symbolic and important role through its history.  A monastery, a friary and lay settlement existed at Roscommon prior to the construction of the castle. The importance of this centre on a regional and provincial level was the reason Roscommon was chosen for what was to become one of the most important royal castles  in Ireland during the late Thirteenth and early Fourteenth Century.  

Built in 1269 by Robert de Ufford, the chief officer in Ireland for henry III, the built of the castle wasn't straightforward. Where Aedh O Connor had succeeded his father as king of Connacht was deeply hostile to the Anglo Normans. Where Roscommon castle posed a treat to his power, he repeatedly plundered and burned the castle during the early 1270's. These attacks slowed down the built of the castle significantly. 

Eventually, it was completed after 8 years of sieges.

Roscommon castle consists out of a quadrilateral enclosure with a D-shaped tower at each of its four corners, a twin-towered gatehouse along its east wall and a smaller gatehouse at its western wall. The castle was repeatedly attacked by the local Irish and fell in O'Connor's hands in the mid Fourteenth Century. The O'connors would hold the castle for 200 years until if fell to Sir Henry Sidney, the Lord Deputy. 

in 1577, the crown granted the Castle and 17,000 acres to sir Nicholas Malby, an English soldier and administrator who turned part of the castle into a Renaissance-influenced fortified house. This estate would be on of the largest New English estates in Ireland. 

Admission to the castle is free and combined with a picnic and walk in the surrounding parkland is perfect for a relaxing afternoon. The park includes a Turlough and a wildlife conservation area which is a habitat to unique flora and fauna.
Within the park is a crannog known locally as Hill O'Bones, a bird walk, wildflower meadows,....