One of Ireland’s finest examples of a Gaelic fortified tower house

Aughnanure Castle is considered to be one of the grandest fortified tower houses in Ireland and is one of 200 built-in county Galway alone. It has six floors, a banqueting hall, and an underground stream that was used for bringing supplies right up to the fortified gates. This was the stronghold of the O’Flaherty Clan whose family motto was ‘Fortune favors the strong’. The O’Flaghertys were the rulers of this entire region before they were ousted from Galway by the Normans in 1256. They spent the next 400 years terrorizing and attacking the people of Galway from this base as they would not accept subjugation. Galway’s citizens even erected a wall that bore the plaintive prayer ‘From the ferocious O’Flaherties, Good Lord protect us’. Grace O’Malley, the Pirate Queen, also lived in this castle for a period of time when she married Donal O’Flaherty in 1546. Aughnanure means ‘The Field of Yews’ in Irish and one of these specimens still remains within the castle grounds.