Kilkea Castle

According to Francis Grose's Antiquities of Ireland, "to curb their outrages, Thomas Crawley, Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Justice, set out from Dublin, but proceeded no farther than Castledermot; the troops went forward under military leaders, he remaining engaged in processions and prayers for their success".

[3] In 1634 the castle was leased to the Jesuit Order by Countess Elizabeth, the widow of Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Kildare and they remained there until 1646.

[citation needed] In the early 18th century, the 19th Earl of Kildare decided to make Carton House the family seat and Kilkea Castle was leased to a succession of tenants.

[5] Kilkea Castle was then run as a hotel for decades, but entered Examinership in 2009, as a result of the Irish financial crisis.

[7] The polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) was born at Kilkea House, near the castle, to a Quaker family.