Tremblestown Castle

Map Reference: N760576 (2760, 2576)



Tremblestown or Trimblestown Castle is a three-storey tower-house. There is a loft above the ground floor with a barrel vault above that. The loft may be reached by a mural stairway near the SE corner. Access to the higher levels may have been by a stairway in the NE corner but this was possibly destroyed during building of a later structure. There is a four-storey flanking tower at the SW corner and the original doorway appears to be in the south wall. In the mid-18th century the 12th Lord Trimlestown attached a new three-storey house at the north of the tower-house. This has a fine bow projection in the east wall. Lord Trimlestown was a celebrated figure who kept a large eagle chained up by the front door. He spent much of his life abroad where he acquired a skill in medicine. He treated the poor of the district for free and is also noted for treating a fashionable lady for the vapours by getting four assistants to threaten her with rods in a darkened room. He constructed a fine formal garden which contained an aviary of rare birds and a greenhouse full of exotic plants. Early in the 19th century the house was decorated with crenellations and ornamental turrets in the style of the late 16th century. However soon afterwards it was abandoned by the family and fell into ruin.