Carbury Castle

Carbury Castle is a ruined Tudor fortified house perched on Carbury Hill — known locally as Fairy Hill — straddling the border of counties Kildare and Offaly in Ireland's flat Midlands. The site's origins trace to a Norman motte likely raised in the early 13th century by Meiler FitzHenry, a knight who received the lands from Strongbow after the Norman invasion of Ireland. Ownership passed through the De Berminghams and later to native Irish lords before the Colley family — direct ancestors of the Dukes of Wellington — took possession in 1588 and expanded the structure into the substantial tower house whose shell survives today. The hilltop ruin offers broad views across the Midlands and carries a lingering atmosphere of folklore, its nickname Fairy Hill pointing to long-standing local legend.