Site of Tiaquin Castle, Tiaquin Demesne, Co. Galway
On a gentle rise in the rolling countryside of County Galway, the remnants of Tiaquin Castle tell a story of Ireland's turbulent past.
Site of Tiaquin Castle, Tiaquin Demesne, Co. Galway
Historical records show the castle was standing in 1574, when it belonged to one Melaghlin O’Kelly, a member of the prominent Gaelic family who controlled much of this region during the medieval period. Today, visitors to Tiaquin Demesne will find little of the original structure remains; just an uneven rectangular platform measuring 24 metres long by 10 metres wide marks where the castle once stood.
The site consists largely of a grass-covered mound that likely conceals fallen rubble from the castle’s walls, with occasional chunks of masonry breaking through the surface. When the Ordnance Survey documented the area in the 19th century, they recorded it as the “butt of the castle that originally bore the name of Tiaquin”, suggesting that even by then, the fortification had already fallen into considerable ruin. The gable wall of a later house stands nearby to the south, a reminder that this spot continued to be inhabited long after the castle’s demise.
Archaeological surveys conducted in the 1990s confirmed the site’s historical significance, though they found no substantial architectural features surviving above ground. The platform itself serves as the primary evidence of the castle’s footprint, offering a tangible connection to the O’Kelly lordship and the complex web of alliances and conflicts that characterised Gaelic Ireland before the complete English conquest of the region.