Chair of Kildare — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Carrickanearla is an old castle upon a high hill betwixt two mountains, recorded in a 1674 survey of John, 18th Earl of Kildare, and still marked by a square depression, collapsed walling, and a chamfered arch-stone lying in the field. The mound holds the shape of a room never fully buried, as if the castle refused to leave even when its walls fell. Someone may have sat beside that arch-stone at dusk, listening for the house to answer back.

The OSL (Herity 2002, 155 (181)) recorded the local tradition of a castle here, and Fitzgerald (1912-14, 424) quotes an extract from a 1674 survey of the estate of John, 18th Earl of Kildare, 'Carrickanearle contains … a Peace of An old Castle upon a high hill betwixt two mountains … '. On a mound (KD017-028001-) where a shallow, square depression (dims. L 4m; Wth 4m; D 0.6m) occurs on the SW upper surface of the mound, and is retained along its SW side by a low, grassed-over stone wall (Wth 1.1m; H 0.6m). A second portion of collapsed walling (L 5m NNW-SSE; Wth 2.7m; H 0.7m) down-slope immediately to the E may also be part of a ruined castle, other evidence for which is provided by an architectural fragment, a well dressed and chamfered arch-stone lying in the field to the NE of the monument (KD017-028005-). Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload: 10 June 2011

The castle at Chair of Kildare, Carrickanearla was associated with the Earl of Kildare, specifically mentioned in a 1674 survey of the estate of John, 18th Earl of Kildare. It is remembered as part of the extensive Kildare estate holdings, reflecting the family's influence in the region during the 17th century.

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