castleroche castle

It is said that in 1236 Rohesia de Verdun fortified a castle here on her own lands 'which none of her predecessors had been able to do'. Legend says that she promised herself in marriage to the architect if she liked the castle when it was built. But when he came to claim her hand as a reward, she had him thrown out of the window - an explanation for one of the windows which is still called 'the murder window'! But old legend notwithstanding, the castle was probably built by Rohesia's son John, who died in 1274. the castle is almost triangular in shape, with a high wall enclosing the central courtyard. Two semicircular bastions flank the entrance in the north wall, and the south end of the castle is occupied by a two-storeyed hall with three windows and window-seats in the upper floor. To the north was a bailey, separated from the castle by a rock-cut ditch, and the main approach to the castle was through this bailey. A hosting of all the English forces in Ireland took place at the castle in 1561.

Commanding a pass leading into south Armagh, this is one of the lesser known, yet one of the most dramatic, of the Norman castles when seen from the plain below.