Knockrath Castle (in ruins) — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Knockrath Castle was a 17th-century O'Byrne tower house with a circular NE corner, set inside two huge terraced enclosures joined by a causeway on a slope above the Avonmore Valley. Price measured its square foundations in 1933, but stone and mortar have since disappeared, leaving only earth scars visible through pasture. What remains is a landscape shaped like a castle: broad rims, a narrow bridge of soil, and empty space where a tower once caught the light.

Situated on a marked N-facing slope in pasture with commanding views over the Avonmore Valley. Price (1933, 240-41) described the foundations of a 17th-century O'Byrne castle (dims. 8.68m x 8.68m) with a circular tower at the NE corner standing on the eastern side of a large rectangular enclosure (WI023-036001-). No trace now remains apart from the earthworks which consist of two large conjoined terraced enclosures (W enclosure dims. 170m N-S; 63m E-W; E enclosure dims. 105m N-S; 67m E-W). The enclosures are linked by a well-defined causeway. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wicklow' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 17 December 2008 This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 137/1940).

Built by the O'Byrne family in the 17th century, Knockrath Castle is remembered as a historic example of early modern Irish castle architecture and as part of the defensive and territorial structures of the region during a period of political and military upheaval.

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