Donegal Castle

In the town of Donegal on Tyrconnell Street, you can visit a castle that was originally built in 1474 by Sir Hugh O’Donnell, the chief of the O’Donnell clan at the time. It is situated on a bend the Eske River. The site was chosen for defense purposes.

The castle stayed in O’Donnell hands until 1607 when the O’Donnell leaders left Ireland in the flight of the Earls. This was precipitated by the English who decided to rid Ireland of the “pesky” Irish chieftains. The O’Donnell chief at the time was Hugh Roe O’Donnell. Hugh decided that if the English were to have his home, he certainly would not make it easy for them, and the castle was torched.

The next owner of the castle and its grounds was Captain Basil Brooke. He must not have found the torched castle very comfortable as he rebuilt it in 1623. The style that he chose for the addition of a wing was a Jacobean manor style. He also added windows and a gable. The castle stayed in the Brooke family for many years until, in the 18^th century, it was in a ruinous condition.

The Earl of Arran made a donation of it to the Office of Public Works in 1898. I believe that he just didn’t want to spend the money to restore or to tear down what remained of the castle.

The castle was partially restored in 1989 to 1996 and still has the original cobblestone floors. It also has the original trip stairs. These stairs can be quite trick to navigate. All the steps are at uneven heights to trip any sword fighters coming up the stairs. They also turn to the right to give the defenders an edge the fighting.

The garderobes were designed so that enemy soldiers would not be able to either use a spear or shoot an arrow up the chute taking the waste down to the river.

Currently, the castle is open to the public for tours. They allow 35 people on each tour and the tours last for approximately 30 minutes. The castle is also used to hold special events such as Gaelic festivals.

When we were there, it was enjoyable to stretch our legs after being on the bus for a couple of hours. We followed the tour guide, except some of us used the newer staircase rather than use the trip stairs for reasons of safety.