Parke's Castle

Parke's Castle (also known as Newtown Castle and O'Rourke's Castle) is a 17th century semi-fortified manor house. It is situated on the north-eastern shore of Lough Gill, in the north of County Leitrim, in the northwest of Ireland. The castle is built on the site of an earlier 16th Century O'Rourke (Uí Ruairc) Gaelic tower house. The castle and bawn had come into the possession of Captain Robert Parke by 1628, possibly earlier. He had been granted some of the former O'Rourke lands as part of the Plantations. By 1635, Parke had completed his fortified manor house on the site of the older Gaelic castle. Once the Parke family were deceased, the castle had passed to the Gore family by the late 1670s. Whilst there are no records as to when the Gore family had left the castle, it was depicted on a drawing by Sir Thomas Cocking from 1791, which shows it as being in a ruinous state. It remained uninhabited for almost three centuries. However, the archaeological excavations yielded various objects and material culture from the 18th and 19th centuries, indicating reuse of the site. For instance, the bawn was used as a farmyard and stables by local residents right up until the mid-20th century. The building was acquired by the Office of Public Works in 1935. Archaeological excavations, directed by Claire Foley, were conducted between 1971 and 1975. The excavations revealed the foundations of the O'Rourke tower house and a number of other structures within the bawn. The manor house and gatehouse were restored between 1980 and 1988, and the site has been open to the public on a seasonal basis since 1990.