Drimnagh Castle

Dublin · Ireland · Castle

Eleanora was forced to marry her cousin while her true love was slain — now she searches for him forever in Ireland's only moated castle.

Drimnagh Castle is the only castle in Ireland still surrounded by a flooded moat, and it guards one of Dublin's most tragic love legends. In the 16th century Eleanora Barnwall was to be married off to her cousin Edmund, though her heart belonged to Sean O'Byrne of the enemy clan in the Wicklow mountains. On the wedding day O'Byrne ambushed the groom's party, and in the revenge attack that followed Sean too was killed. In one version Eleanora fled and froze to death in the Dublin mountains seeking her lover's grave; in another she threw herself from the castle wall. Her ghost is said to still drift through the halls in search of her lost love.

FAQ

Where is Drimnagh Castle located?

Drimnagh Castle is in Dublin, Ireland.

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• Olympia Theatre Dublin · Theatre
• St Patrick's Cathedral Dublin · Church
• Wolfe Tone Square (St Mary's churchyard) Dublin · Cemetery
• Newbridge House, Donabate Dublin · Manor
• The Brazen Head Dublin · Pub
• The Black Church (St Mary's Chapel of Ease) Dublin · Church
• Feltrim Hill Dublin · Natural site

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: National Library of Ireland on The Commons · No restrictions · Wikimedia Commons