The castle of Athlone is situated on the Connaught side of the river Shannon in the Barony of Athlone, County Roscommon, sixty miles west-by-north of Dublin.

The name is derived from ath, “a ford,” and luain, “the moon,” and signifies “the ford of the moon,” to which it is supposed to have been dedicated in pagan times. Some gold lunettes and crescents found in a neighbouring bog seem to bear out the statement.

The castle commands the bridge, and is built upon a spur of the hill upon which the town on the Connaught side is built. It is overlooked by the houses of the town, while on the river side it is supported by a great buttress of masonry.

The entrance is on the road which leads from the bridge up to the town, and is by a modern drawbridge.

The fortress consists of a strong curtain wall having circular towers mounted with cannon at irregular intervals. Most of them have been restored with fresh blue limestone.

The Connaught tower, which stands isolated in the courtyard, is considered the oldest part of the fortress, and usually supposed to have formed the keep of the first Norman castle built in King John’s reign. It is decagonal in form, but owing to having been pebble-dashed and whitened of late years, it does not retain an appearance of antiquity.

The English stronghold was erected on the site of an old Celtic fortress of the O’Connors. It is recorded that the castle and bridge of Athlone were built in 1129 by Turloch O’Connor, “in the summer of the drought.”

The following year they were demolished by Murogh O’Mleghlin and Feirnan O’Rorke, and in 1153 the castle was burned.

Between 1210 and 1213 the Norman fortress was erected by John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, in his capacity of Lord Justiciary of Ireland. During its building a tower fell and killed Lord Richard Tuit, who founded the Cistercian Abbey of Granard, County Longford.

Athlone Castle was built on abbey land, and in 1214 King John commanded Henry, Archbishop of Dublin, to give the monks a tenth of the expenses of the castle in lieu of the land used, in accordance with the conditions agreed to by the Bishop of Norwich when he was fortifying it. After this there are several references in the State Documents to the tithes and other compensation due to the monks.

In 1221 the King instituted a fair to be held at the castle.

The fortress being situated on the border of Irish territory, its early history has an exceedingly stormy record. In 1226 Geoffrey de Marisco, who was then Justiciary of Ireland, complained that as the King of Connaught refused to come to Dublin, he had appointed to meet him at Athlone, although the castle was fortified against the Crown.

In 1232 an order was issued to Hubert de Burgh to deliver the castle to Peter de Rivall, and the next year one to Richard de Burgh, who was to surrender it to Maurice FitzGerald, Justiciary of Ireland.

Walter de Lacy received twenty marks for the custody of the fortress in 1240, and eleven years later a tax was levied for its repair.

It was granted to Prince Edward, the King’s son, in 1254; and during the years 1276-77 it was repaired.

Richard de Verdon was besieged in the castle in 1288 by Richard de Burgo, and the same year John, Archbishop of Dublin, took up residence there to oversee its better fortification, and to try and make terms with the Irish.

In 1305 Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, was constable.

The castle was “obtained” for the King in 1537, having been in the hands of the Irish for many years. It contained only one piece of broken ordnance, and there is a request that another piece should be sent.

During Queen Elizabeth’s reign it was the residence of the President of Connaught, and also the Chief Justice and Attorney-General for Connaught.

Tradition states that the Earl of Essex frequently stayed in the castle, and some of his letters to the Queen are dated from Athlone.

The O’Conor Don was imprisoned in the fortress in 1570 while Sir E. Fitton was constable, as a hostage for the good behaviour of his sept. Some of his followers, however, brought a “cot” under the castle walls, into which the captive stepped, and so escaped.

In 1585-86 it is described as being a fitter residence for the Chief Commissioner of Connaught than the Lord Deputy in the following words:—“That the castle is conveniently furnished with buildings and other necessaries fit for the said Commissioner, but far too mean for the Lord Deputy and the train that must follow the state.”

It was ordered to be garrisoned in 1599, and the following year it was to be entrusted to none but a “sound Englishman.” In 1606 it was repaired and added to.

Two years later it was seized by the Earls Tyrone and Tyrconnell. It passed again to the Crown, and the Earl of Clanricard was constable in 1610.

Thirteen years later it was repaired, and a curious tax is mentioned with regard to the operations, which is, that the sept of Kellyes was bound to supply three hundred labourers yearly for work in the fortress.

The Court of Claims sat in the castle during the Commonwealth.

In 1682 Sir H. Piers writes of it:—“In the centre of the castle is a high raised tower which overlooketh the walls and country round about. On the side that faceth the river are rooms and apartments which served always for the habitation of the Lord President of Connaught and Governor of the castle, the middle castle being the storehouse for ammunition and warlike provisions of all sorts.”

After the battle of the Boyne in 1690, Lieut.-General Douglas, with ten regiments of infantry, three of horse, two of dragoons, twelve field-pieces, and two small mortars, endeavoured to take possession of Athlone. The bridge across the Shannon was broken, and he erected his batteries on the Leinster side of the river.

He continued the cannonading for eight days, but his powder running short he was obliged to retire. In his despatch he stated he had done his best, and that it was his opinion Athlone Castle was “of the greatest importance of any in Ireland.”

Colonel Richard Grace held the fortress for King James.

The following year the main division of William’s army, under de Genckell, laid siege to the town. At once seizing that portion of it that is in Leinster, he began to play his batteries on the north-east side of the castle on June 22nd. By seven in the evening he had made a large breach in the walls.

Firing continued all night, and by five in the morning the side of the castle next the river was completely broken down, and the garrison was obliged to go in and out by a hole made in the wall on the western side.

The following evening the castle garrison raised two batteries above the castle, and some others, but the firing had little effect. The bridge was slowly and surely gained by the besieging troops, and their guns played constantly on the fortress, wrecking the Connaught tower and walls.

Two officers deserting from the town informed William’s troops that the best regiments had been withdrawn by St. Ruth, and thereupon a concerted and sudden attack was made on the 30th of June, which carried the bridge, castle, and town by storm.

Repairs were at once begun by the victors on July 3rd, and in 1697 the castle was the chief depÔt of military stores in the west.

It is now used as a barrack, and officers’ quarters and other buildings have been erected inside the walls.