Markree Castle, Collooney, County Sligo

Markree Castle

Ireland is dotted with castles and old manor houses. Some of these impressive buildings are tourist attractions. Some are homes while others are vacant and crumbling. Still others have been transformed into hotels and guest houses. I found one such hotel south of Sligo and decided the location would be a convenient one for us as many of the places we wanted to visit were in the south or west (and it would allow us to avoid the hassle of finding parking in Sligo town). It continues in the ownership of its old family and boasts that W. B. Yeats stayed there with an ancestor of the family who was involved in the literary movement.

Markree Castle* is part of an estate in Collooney. It has had a number of renovations over the years. While it is really the manor house of an estate, it looks like a small castle and is so called. The gardens are lovely. We enjoyed the stay.

The castle is pretty impressive when you drive up. Note the porte cochere.

This is the view of the castle from the river.

 

Every good castle needs at least one flying buttress.

Is that a nest on the weather vane?

This is the side view from outside the walls.

I have become a fan of iron gates.

 

The view from our room...not bad.

DH in the entryway walking towards the porte cochere.

 

The chapel. Many of these houses welcome destination weddings. One had been held withing the week.

Part of the grand staircases.

Skylights

Upper floors

Looking out the window in the top floors

The roof - we never did find out if it was possible to go out on the roof.

This is a working estate, though only a portion of the original. See the herd of sheep below the castle, across the stream?

Stairs at the rear of the house.

Part of the walls

The hotel provides maps for four walks of various lengths. I only walked around the gardens near the house. DH ran one of the longer routes.

 

Some of the trees in the garden were oddly bent.

They were almost disturbing...

...and a bit unnatural.

The stream behind the castle.

 

Water plants near the small dock.

Pine cone

And more

I am sure I ate these blackberries.

And apple or crabapple, perhaps.

A group of rides passed through. I don't think it was a hunt.

The wall with requisite ferns growing the the cracks.

A couple of trees.

Greenery along the path.

The garden was a little rough, but it was the end of the season.

One path.

I don't know this bloom.

This looks like a type of mullein or relative.

These would make a sweet bouquet.

There was still a good deal of color and texture in the garden.

I was inspired, but will perhaps only add some rocks to mine.

Outside view.

Rose.

Nice view of the castle at day's end.

One of the lovely Sligo sunsets.

NOTES:


* http://www.markreecastle.ie/