Menlo Castle
Anyone who walks the west bank of the Corrib north of the city sees it across the river: an ivy-covered shell with a square turret at one end, standing among trees on the far bank. This is Menlo Castle, Caisleán Mhionlaigh, the Blakes' house, burned out on a July night in 1910 and never rebuilt.
Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.
Sheila1988, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
Menlo Castle, Menlo Castle Entrance Arch, Menlo Castle fire memorial on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.
A tower house of 1569
The castle stands on the site of a sixteenth-century tower house and keeps parts of it; several sources date the tower to 1569, and a Thomas Colman was recorded living there in 1574. The Blake family, one of the Tribes of Galway, came later and stayed for centuries, adding a two-bay, four-storey block in the eighteenth century. The square turreted structure at the eastern end is still the building's signature.
The fire of 1910
On 26 July 1910, while Sir Valentine Blake, the fourteenth baronet, and Lady Blake were in Dublin, fire broke out in the castle. Their daughter Eleanor, who was disabled, could not be found afterwards and is presumed to have died in the blaze. The house was largely left to ruin from then on, and in 1923 the Land Commission divided the Blake estate.
Seeing the castle
The best view is from the river path on the university side, or from the water: the rowing crews pass it every morning. The castle itself is on the Menlo side, reached through Menlo village, with the entrance arch and a memorial to the fire nearby; the model on this page pins them.
Questions people ask
Why is Menlo Castle a ruin?
How old is Menlo Castle?
Where can you see Menlo Castle?
Written from Wikipedia, "Menlo Castle" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.