Ireland’s Creepiest Castle

Deep within the heavily wooded area between two large lakes, Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, near the current boundary of Counties Mayo and Galway, sits Ireland’s creepiest castle.

It is Ballykine Castle. It was built in the late 13th Century and acquired by the powerful Burke clan in the 14th or 15th Century. The Burkes hired ClanDonnell mercenaries for protection, and some of the McDonnells moved into Ballykine.

Ballykine had two rooms on the bottom floor and one large room on the upper floor. There was no door into the ground floor, and access into the building was through an outside stairway to the second floor. It also had a four-story tower on one side. There were slits, rather than windows, in the walls – this allowed the flow of air into the interior but could also be used to shoot arrows at outside intruders. The building was only about 24 feet by 17 feet.

The interior of Ballykine was destroyed by a fire sometime in the late 15th or early 16th Century. This is evident by the exposed stones inside the building and also outside stones near the tops of the windows that were cracked by intense heat. There is also a lot of carbon from burnt wood on the ground.

One cannot find Ballykine Castle unless looking for it. It is within a wooded area closed to vehicle traffic. It is several miles into the woods on a narrow trail. It’s difficult to see the castle even from the trail – it is a hundred yards or so off the trail!

Much of the region has been reforested with non-native species of conifers, forested to meet much of Ireland’s lumber needs. But Ballykine remains one of the few remaining native forests of alluvial and bog woodlands. The woodlands are today within the European Communities’ Natura 2000 network of protected areas.

The forest may be natural, and it may be protected. But that doesn’t make it any less creepy!

Exterior photographs by Linda McDonnell. Interior photographs by David McDonnell.