Carlow’s castles divide cleanly into one place you pay to enter and several you can walk up to for nothing. Huntington Castle at Clonegal, on the Wexford border, is the exception: the Durdin-Robertson family have lived there since 1625 and still lead the tours themselves, taking in 500-year-old yews, an 1680s water garden and a Temple of the Goddess in the cellar. Everything else on this list is a ruin in the open air.
Carlow Castle sits on the bank of the Barrow in the county town, two round towers and a single wall left of what William Marshal built between 1207 and 1213; a local doctor blew out the interior with explosives in 1814. It is free, unguided and a few minutes’ walk from the town centre, which also gives you Brownshill Dolmen a short drive north and a free county museum. Leighlinbridge, downriver, pairs the Black Castle tower with a nine-arch bridge from 1320 that still carries traffic.
The two remaining ruins sit either side of Bagenalstown and need a car. Ballyloughan, to the south-east, keeps its twin-towered gatehouse almost intact in a working farm field; Ballymoon, just east, is an unfinished granite courtyard reached over a timber footbridge, with 20-foot walls and nothing around it. Both are National Monuments, both are field-edge stops, so expect mud after rain.
A lived-in house since 1625 where the family guide you through yew walks, a 1680s water garden and a Temple of the Goddess in the cellar.
The remains of a rare four-towered Norman keep on the Barrow, gutted by a doctor's explosives in 1814 and free to visit at any hour.
A Black Castle tower standing beside a 1320 nine-arch bridge that still carries traffic, in a village known for its community gardens.
A Norman ruin of about 1300 whose twin-towered gatehouse survives almost complete, standing free and unguided in a farm field near Bagenalstown.
The base for the county's castle stops, with the Norman West Wall, Brownshill Dolmen north of town and riverside trails along the Barrow.
7 of 7 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Clonegal, carlow
The Durdin-Robertson family have lived at Huntington since 1625, and they still lead the castle tours themselves. The draw is the layering: 500-year-old yews and a 1680s water garden outside, and a 1970s Temple of the Goddess, all Egyptian mosaics and hand-painted walls, down in the cellar.
Carlow, carlow
Two round towers and a single wall are all that survive of Carlow Castle, a rare four-towered keep built by William Marshal between 1207 and 1213. The rest came down in 1814 when a local doctor used explosives to gut the interior. It is a free, unguided stop on the bank of the River Barrow.
Leighlinbridge, carlow
Leighlinbridge grew around a nine-arch bridge built in 1320 and still carrying traffic, one of the oldest bridges in use in Europe, with the Black Castle tower beside it. The village calls itself the Garden Village and has four community-built gardens and a shelf of Tidy Towns and Entente Florale awards to show for it.
Ballyloughan, carlow
Ballyloughan Castle is the ruin of a Norman castle from around 1300, standing in a field south-east of Bagenalstown in County Carlow. Its twin-towered gatehouse survives almost complete, alongside the hall and the foundations of one corner tower. It's a free, unguided National Monument in a working farm field.
Carlow town, carlow
Carlow was the capital of the Lordship of Ireland for thirteen years in the 14th century, and the surviving West Wall of its Norman castle still stands over the River Barrow. A short drive north sits Brownshill Dolmen, reckoned to carry the heaviest capstone in Europe, while the town centre has a free county museum, riverside trails and an October festival.
Clonegal, carlow
Clonegal sits in a river valley on the Carlow-Wexford border, 22 km from Carlow town. The draw is Huntington Castle – the same family's home since 1625, and Kubrick's set for Barry Lyndon – with 17th-century gardens, a yew walk and one of Ireland's earliest turbine houses. The village also marks the southern end of the 127 km Wicklow Way.
East of Bagenalstown, carlow
← All things to do in County Carlow
Book tours & tickets
We may earn a commission if you book through this link, at no extra cost to you.
Book tours, skip-the-line tickets and day trips with GetYourGuide. Free cancellation on most experiences.
See tours & tickets in County Carlow →