Castle Carra

Castle Carra is a rectangular hall house built in the thirteenth century by Adam de Staunton for the de Burgo, standing on the east bank of Lough Carra beside its deepest water. The MacEvilly later added the bawn and gateways, while Captain William Bowen strengthened the defences with a circular flanker after the castle reached the Crown in the 1570s. It passed through the Lynch family until the nineteenth century, preserving a line of ownership that stretched from Norman service to local descent. The lake still touches the place like a living participant, giving the stones a rare depth of time.