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Dunguaire Castle

Dunguaire Castle

Photo: Boomur · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Kinvara, Ireland
Client / Owner
Hynes clan
Year
Completed 1520
Access
Private
Style
—

Dunguaire Castle is a 16th-century tower house on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay, near Kinvara in County Galway, Ireland. The 19th-century scholar John O'Donovan credited the Hynes clan, chiefs of the Kinvara district, with building it.

Its key features are a 75-foot tower and a defensive wall, both restored in the 1980s. The name comes from the dun, or fort, of King Guaire, a legendary king of Connacht.

The castle appeared in the 1969 Walt Disney film Guns in the Heather, where it stood in for Boyne Castle, and in the 1979 film North Sea Hijack. It has been closed to visitors since 2023. Its owner, the Shannon Airport Group, offered it for sale, but Galway County Council declined, citing a lack of funds.

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