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Dunamase Castle

Guided Tour of the Rock of Dunamase

22 August, 1pm - 2:15pm

  • Car park at the Rock of Dunamase
  • Rock of Dunamase
  • R32 E170
  • Co. Laois

This is a rare opportunity for a guided tour of the Rock of Dunamase by the previous Director of Excavations at the site - Brian Hodkinson.

There have been fortifications at Dunamase since the ninth century. Plundered by Viking raiders in 843AD, it became the dowry of Aoife, the bartered daughter of Diarmait Mac Murchada, when she married Richard De Clare, Strongbow, as the price for the Anglo-Norman invader restoring Diarmait as king of Leinster. The fortress continued to play a significant role in subsequent power struggles between Gaelic Irish and invading forces - it was fought over, occupied, fortified, reinforced, seized, abandoned, and blown up! However the ruins remain to tell the story of this site, which can still captivate the imagination.


Further Information

Laois County Council



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