Barberstown Castle, Barberstown, Co. Kildare
Barberstown Castle in County Kildare stands as a remarkably well-preserved medieval tower house, now serving as the southern end of an 18th-century hotel.
Barberstown Castle, Barberstown, Co. Kildare
The almost square, four-storey tower measures internally about 5.9 metres north to south and 4.85 metres wide, with walls 1.8 metres thick constructed from roughly coursed rubble masonry. What makes this tower particularly interesting are its projecting angle towers at the northwest and southwest corners; the northwest tower going westward and the southwest heading south. The southeastern corner shows signs of reconstruction in ashlar-type stone, suggesting a third angle tower may have originally stood here. A possible bawn, or defensive courtyard wall, lies immediately to the south of the tower.
The castle’s entrance arrangements tell their own story of adaptation over the centuries. While visitors today enter through a pointed-arched doorway on the north wall, likely added when the hotel was built, the original entrance appears to have been a now-blocked doorway near the north end of the west wall, beside the northwest corner tower. The ground floor, now a dining room, features defensive double-splayed loops in tall, flat-arched embrasures that originally extended to floor level but have since been built up to sill height. A spiral staircase in the northwest corner tower provides access to the upper floors, though the southwest tower remains inaccessible. The second floor boasts a pointed-arched vault running north to south, whilst the upper levels contain a mix of pointed-arched and square-headed windows, all rebuilt externally in Victorian-Gothic style using brick.
The castle shows clear evidence of various periods of modification, from the base batters added to the corner towers to the Jacobean-style brick chimney, which might be a later copy of a 17th-century original. The battlements have been rebuilt in brick, and modern additions include a large water storage tank on the roof level. Archaeological excavations in 2003 in the former walled garden about 60 metres northwest uncovered medieval pottery, confirming the site’s long history of occupation. Today, this medieval stronghold seamlessly blends its defensive past with its current role as part of a hotel, offering diners the unique experience of eating in what was once a fortified ground floor chamber.