Four of these eight belong to one story: Gráinne Ní Mháille and the O’Malleys, whose towers ring Clew Bay and the islands off it. Rockfleet, on a tidal inlet near Newport, is the easiest of them; a metal walkway put in during 2015 reaches the door at any tide, the interior stays locked, and it sits on the Great Western Greenway. Kildavnet stands over the narrows of Achill Sound, free all year, with a ruined bawn and the view across to Corraun. Granuaile’s Castle needs the Clare Island ferry and is viewed from outside only, so pair it with the Fawnglass Loop that starts at the slip.
Lough Carra holds two more, inland and quieter. Castle Burke is a five-storey Bourke tower of about 1570 on a private lakeshore site near Ballintober, with no signage and no facilities. Castle Carra, a 13th-century Staunton hall-house at Carnacon, is closed inside, but the lakeside walk is worth the detour and the Black Hole inlet brings winter birdlife.
The rest sit apart. Belleek, outside Ballina, is an 1820s neo-Gothic manor restored from ruin and now a hotel and museum, with 1,000 acres of free woods running down to the Moy. Doon is the grassy footprint of a Norman keep on a 150-foot hill near Aughagower, a short steep climb from a lay-by on the R330. Doona, at Fahy in north Mayo, is a roadside shell, roofless since a 19th-century fire.
An 1820s neo-Gothic manor near Ballina, restored from ruin and now a hotel and museum holding Ireland's largest private medieval armour collection.
The squat 16th-century tower at Clare Island's harbour, stronghold of the O'Malley chieftain the English called the pirate queen, viewed from outside.
A 15th-century O'Malley tower house over the narrows of Achill Sound, free all year, with a ruined bawn and the view to Corraun.
The Clew Bay tower where Grace O'Malley saw off two English sieges, reached by a 2015 walkway that works whatever the tide.
A five-storey Bourke tower of about 1570 on the northern shore of Lough Carra, garrisoned by Cromwellian troops and now a roofless ruin.
8 of 8 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Ballina, mayo
A neo-Gothic manor near Ballina, built in the 1820s and restored from ruin by adventurer Marshall Doran, now a hotel and museum holding Ireland's largest private medieval armour collection and a bar he built from 16th-century ship timber. The free 1,000-acre Belleek Woods run down to the River Moy.
Clare Island, mayo
This squat 16th-century tower house at Clare Island's harbour was a stronghold of Gráinne Ní Mháille, the O'Malley chieftain the English called the pirate queen. You can only view it from outside, so pair the short look with the Fawnglass Loop that starts at the slip and the Cistercian abbey further north.
Achill Island, mayo
Carrickkildavnet Castle is a 15th-century O'Malley tower house standing over the narrows of Achill Sound, known locally as Granuaile's Tower after Grace O'Malley, whose fleet used it. It is an OPW national monument you can only view from outside, but the seaward walls, the ruined bawn and the view across to Corraun reward the short walk. Free, all year.
Newport, mayo
Rockfleet Castle is a 16th-century tower house on a tidal inlet of Clew Bay, best known as the stronghold of Grace O'Malley, who saw off two English sieges here. A metal walkway put in during 2015 reaches the door whatever the tide, though the interior stays locked. It's a natural stop on the Great Western Greenway.
Ballintober, mayo
Carnacon, mayo
Aughagower, mayo
Fahy, mayo
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