You know the old saying about not seeing the ‘sights’ in the town you live in …. Well, it is the same as using a home base on vacation. It happened in 2012 while we stayed in Cashel. We almost did not tour the Rock of Cashel. It happened again Tullamore, except this time I really missed it. And, I didn’t know what I missed until I was home.
My base for the second portion of the trip was Tullamore. I had some informational brochures about Tullamore and even bought one. They mentioned Chareville Castle, but I wasn’t seeing any signs or any high traffic patterns. Nothing really screamed ‘Charleville Castle – see me.’ So, I went elsewhere.
My first limited view was out of the corner of my eye on my way to Birr via N52. There was a pasture full of sheep and then I saw a couple of flags. I did try to see if I could track down information via a website. However, the information that I found was dated and it appeared that it was not open to the public. So, I put it on the back burner.
Near the end of my stay, I decided to take advantage of a sunny day and the pasture of sheep. I found a roundabout (N52) that led me to a gravel road and I parked the car. We had sun that day and I took a number of photos. There was also some cattle out, including one that was standing in the gravel road. It kept looking at me as if to ask … how do I get back to the other side of the fence?
It made for a few good images with the castle in the background. I did return to take some more photos, but the road was now blocked. I don’t know if that was a message for me or others … but I wasn’t the one who left that cow out. It looked like it had jumped the fence.
So, the moral to the story … dig deeper. Once I returned home I started to investigate a bit deeper. There appears to be a trail that is open to the public on the castle grounds. You can drive back to the castle, but it may not be open. As a note … Charleville Castle has been used within the films industry, as well as being reported as haunted, making its way to Ghost Hunters International and Scariest Places on Earth.
One last thing, construction finished in the early 1800’s and it has under restoration since the 1970’s.
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