This castle is situated in the parish of Straffan, County Kildare, in the barony of North Salt, about a mile north of the village of Straffan.

The name is spelt variously Barberstowne, Barbeston, Barbieston, Barbiestowne, Barbiston, Barbitstowne, Barbyeston.

The present building consists of a battlemented rectangular keep considered by experts to be of thirteenth-century construction, and measuring at its greatest height 52 feet. It is divided into three floors. The lower room, which is vaulted to the height of 17 feet, is 18 feet long by 15½ feet wide, and the walls are 4½ feet in thickness.

The entrance is situated at the north-west angle, above which are two grooves of sufficient width to stand in, and evidently intended for the protection of the doorway.

The room above the vault is of slightly greater proportions than that below, owing to the walls being of less thickness.

Two small rectangular towers are joined to the main building on the south side’s western angle, and west side’s northern angle respectively. The latter contains a winding stone stair of fifty-three steps leading to the now slated roof. The original crenelated loops for musketry have here and there been enlarged to admit more light. The summit of the watch tower is reached from the roof by a short flight of nine steps.

A man is said to be interred between the top of the main stair and the roof of the tower. His family having held the castle by a lease which expired when he was put underground, determined to evade relinquishing their hold on the property by keeping him always above the earth.

The southern tower consists of three storeys corresponding with those in the keep, and had formerly doors opening from the main rooms. Next the southern wall is a curious slit in each floor just wide enough to permit of a ladder giving access to the apartment above or below. The ground floor in this tower is of very small dimensions, being about 3 feet square.

The walls of the keep slope considerably at the outside base so as to prevent an enemy getting out of gun shot by closing up to the building. Large modern windows now light each floor, and the whole is in excellent preservation.

A flue runs in the thickness of the wall on the north side, which is crowned by a handsome brick chimney, evidently added when the Elizabethan dwelling-house which adjoins the castle was erected. A still more modern house has been added to the north of this building, so that at present three distinct periods are represented by the castle and houses, which are all joined together.

The remains of an old wall near the fortress points to its having once been of larger dimensions. Tradition states that an underground passage leads from the castle to a lodge near the roadway. Some fine old yews of great age adorn the lawn, similar to those which are to be seen near Maynooth Castle.

Locally it is believed that Barberstown was once the residence of the King of Leinster, but its architecture does not bear out the tradition.

In 1622 William Sutton, of Barberstown, is mentioned in an inquisition, and in 1630 it is stated that he held it as tenant of the Earl of Kildare.

Nicholas Sutton was in possession of the castle in 1641, and at a subsequent date it must have passed to the Crown, who granted it in 1666 to John King, first Lord Kingston.

His son Robert, the second Baron, was exempted from mercy by Tyrconnell’s proclamation, and his estate sequestered in 1689.

Richard, Earl of Tyrconnell, then became possessed of the fortress, and, strange to say, that although he could only have retained it until he was attainted in 1692, yet it was known for many years as Tyrconnell Castle. Lady Tyrconnell retained some of her husband’s lands in the neighbourhood to a much later date.

Bartholomew Vanhomrigh, Esq., of Dublin, father of the famous Vanessa, bought Barberstown from the Crown in 1703 for £1,300. James Young was the tenant at the time, and the property is thus described: “In the parish of Straffan, distant from Dublin ten miles, Naas 5, and Manooth 3; is Arable Medow and Pasture, on it 1 Castle in repair, with a large stone House adjoyning, and Orchard, also 8 Cabbins, with Gardens.”

At the beginning of the next century it was occupied by a family named Douglas, and it was purchased by the Bartons, of Straffan, in 1826. They restored and re-castellated it, and it still remains in their possession.

Subsequently it was occupied by Admiral Robinson, and the present tenant is S. F. Symes, Esq.

A most extensive view is obtained from the summit.