At the end of the 1300s, Richard de Burgo - the Red Earl - built County Sligo’s first road. The Red Earl’s Road was an important one over the Curlew Mountains, and this castle was built to defend it in 1590 by Captain John St Barbe. An Elizabethan fortified blockhouse modelled on a 13th-century plan, it had four storeys, four towers and a drawbar. The castle is now large a ruin but it had an eventful past. It survived an attack by the Burkes in 1641 only to be sacked again in 1642, falling into disuse in 1680.
