Well day two and going strong. The word of the day is MINDLESS. Now you might wonder what mindless has to do with this castle. Well back in 1814, a really smart guy decided to renovate the castle into a lovely insane asylum, why not. Makes sense, no one can escape 12-foot-thick walls. He loaded up a giant wagon filled with dynamite and lit the fuse. Exactly, MINDLESS! Ka-boom. Half the castle torn apart into pieces. Clearly Dr Phillip Parry Middleton was a complete idiot. So, now instead of Carlow town having a magnificent castle, it has one wall and two towers. To continue the trend of stupidity, Carlow town council decided to let a developer build apartment right up to what is left. No gorgeous gardens, no lovely shot across a river, no playground, just ugly apartments. It took 8 years before I even stopped at the castle. City planning is important.

Carlow castle was originally built above the spot where there was a timber fort in 1210. It’s believed that William Marshall built it. It had four towers and was three stories high. It sits on the bend of the river Barrow. The town of Carlow built up around it. It’s actually much more impressive then I make it out to be, and well worth a visit. Carlow Museum is really great, and free too.

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