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Lough Rynn Castle


Lough Rynn Castle (Irish: Caisleán Loch na Reanna) is a luxury castle hotel on the shores of Lough Rynn in County Leitrim, Ireland situated on the historic grounds of the medieval castle and estate of the Mac Raghnaill family of Muintir Eolais.

Lough Rynn Castle and estate is located on an isthmus between the lakes of Lough Rynn and Lough Erril. It is some 4 km from Mohill, 145 km from Dublin City on the N4 and 155 km from Galway City. The nearest airport is at Knock, 99 km away.

The current Lough Rynn estate is built on the ancestral lands of Clan Maelsechlainn-Oge Mac Raghnaill, the pre-Conquest rulers of this part of County Leitrim known as Muintir Eolais. The Annals of Loch Cé and Annals of Connacht refer to "the crannóg of Claenloch" (Lough Rynn) in the High Middle Ages, 1247AD, with the structure marked on some maps as "Crannoge" or "Crane Island", while the medieval Mac Raghnaill's Castle is mentioned in 1474AD.

The ruins of the Mac Raghnaill's Castle are located close to the lake and some 500 metres from the existing Lough Rynn Castle. The historian, Fiona Slevin, describes the structure of the Mac Raghnaill castle as "fairly standard for the time, but it did have a few unusual - and clever - features. Although a square shape, the castle had rounded corners that made it more impervious to artillery attacks and it had a straight stairway carved into the hollow of a wall, rather than the more usual spiral stair in one corner."


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