Annaghgowla Island

Mature trees on Annaghgowla Island bend above a roofless stone chamber that official lists still call a castle, although its brick-trimmed doorway and round gable window mark it as an 18th-century house or ornament rather than a fortress. The south wall still rises nearly complete beside a damaged west wall, while the north and east have surrendered to weather; a ghost of a fireplace and windows remains readable where the mortar holds. Someone built a small elegant room on a lonely islet in Lough Gara, perhaps to live there, show it off or enjoy the water, then left it behind. The lake kept the mystery instead of answering it.