Ross Castle

Listen first. Water laps against limestone, and somewhere out on the lake an oar knocks against a wooden hull. The air smells of wet grass and cold stone. In front of you, a tall grey tower stands right at the edge of Lough Leane, the largest of the Killarney lakes. Its walls are rough and pale, patched with dark lichen. Behind it, the mountains of Kerry fold into each other in shades of green and blue. This is Ross Castle.

The tower in front of you is what the Irish call a tower house. It is a fortified family home, built tall and narrow rather than wide. Tower houses spread across Ireland in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Local lords built them to protect their families, their cattle and their wealth. They were not royal fortresses. They were the strong homes of regional chiefs, and Ireland once held thousands of them. Ross is one of the finest that survive.

The builders were the O'Donoghue family, a Gaelic clan who ruled this part of Kerry. Historians generally date the tower to the late fifteenth century. Look at how it sits on a low rocky point, with water on several sides. That choice was deliberate. The lake gave the family fish, transport and a natural moat. Anyone approaching by boat could be seen long before they landed. In a landscape of bogs and woods, the water was the main road.

Now look at the wall around the tower. This outer enclosure is called a bawn. In Irish tradition, a bawn was a defended yard where cattle could shelter during a raid. Cattle meant wealth in Gaelic Ireland, so protecting them mattered as much as protecting people. You can see round towers at the corners of the wall. From these, defenders could fire along the face of the wall at anyone trying to climb it.

Here is the first story most visitors hear — and it is a legend, not history. Locals say that the chief O'Donoghue once leapt from an upper window into the lake. He did not die. Instead, he vanished beneath the water, where he still lives in a palace with his horse and his treasure. According to the tale, he rises on the first morning of May every seven years. He rides across the lake on a white horse. If you see him, you will have good luck.

The castle's real history is just as dramatic. In the seventeenth century, Ireland was torn apart by war. In the early 1650s, the English Parliamentary army, sent by Oliver Cromwell, moved across the country. Ross Castle became one of the last strongholds in the province of Munster to hold out. Its defenders were confident. The water around them, and an old prophecy, made them feel safe.

That prophecy is the second surprise. Local tradition held that Ross Castle could never be taken until a ship sailed on Lough Leane. The lake is inland, far from the sea. So the defenders believed the castle was secure. The Parliamentary commander, Edmund Ludlow, had boats carried overland and launched onto the lake. When the defenders saw a large vessel floating on their water, many accounts say they lost heart. The castle surrendered in 1652, without a long siege.

After the war, the land around Killarney passed through new hands. The castle later came into the possession of the Browne family, who became the Earls of Kenmare. In the eighteenth century, the site was used as a military barracks. Soldiers lived in buildings added beside the old tower. Over time, those later additions decayed. In the twentieth century, the State's heritage service, the Office of Public Works, restored the tower and opened it to the public.

If you go inside, you will join a guided tour, because visits to the interior are guided. Pay attention to the staircase. It is a narrow stone spiral, and the steps are uneven. Guides often explain that this was intentional. A stranger would stumble, while a defender who knew every step would not. Look up near the entrance, too. Tower houses often had a murder hole above the doorway, where defenders could drop stones on intruders.

The rooms inside are furnished with oak furniture from roughly the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These pieces were brought in during the restoration, so they show the period rather than the original contents. Notice how the rooms stack on top of each other, one per floor. The lower levels were for storage and guards. The family lived higher up, where the windows were larger and the rooms were warmer. Safety and comfort increased the higher you climbed.

Step back outside and walk to the small quay beside the castle. This is the starting point for boat trips on the lake. Boatmen here have carried visitors across Lough Leane for generations. One common trip goes to Innisfallen Island, where the ruins of an early monastery stand among the trees. Monks there once kept a famous chronicle of Irish history. From the water, the castle looks very different — taller, sharper, and more alone.

The castle also sits inside Killarney National Park, the first national park in Ireland. The paths around you lead into old oak woods and along the lakeshore. You may hear jaunting cars on the road nearby. These are open horse-drawn carts, and the drivers often tell stories as they go. On quiet mornings, mist lies low over the water. Herons stand in the shallows, and the mountains appear slowly as the light grows.

Before you leave, stand for a moment by the water's edge. Look at the tower again. Its walls have watched clan chiefs, soldiers, boatmen and travellers come and go. The lake still laps against the same rock. As you walk back along the path, listen for the oars, the birds, and the wind in the oaks. And if a white horse appears on the water... well, you will know who it is.