Rathmore Castle,

Kings County.

Documenting our Heritage

According to tradition the huge fortress of Rathmore had four towers and covered more than two acres of land.

Rathmore is one of Tadhg O'Carroll's castles, built in the 14th Century.

Legend tells us Tadhg O'Carroll was a cruel warlord with ferocious and vampiric tendencies.

Referred to as "The Dark Prince of Ely" Tadhg drank the blood of his prisoners and cut the throat of his elder brother Thaddeus who was a priest. This act of blasphemy is rumoured to have condemned the chieftain to remain forever as a vampiric ghost.

The era of the O'Carroll clan came to an end during the plantations when Sir Charles O'Carroll accepted lands in the new world. His descendants founded the state of Maryland, one of whom was a signature on the American Declaration of Independence.