Blake's Castle (Galway) | tower, listed building / architectural heritage

 tower, listed building / architectural heritage

Blakes Tower, as it is known, dates from medieval times, and is one of two remarkable castles of the fourteen tribes of Galway as depicted in the 1651 map of Galway. It was used as the county jail from 1586 to 1810 when prisoners were transferred to Galway’s custom built prison on the site of what is now Galway Cathedral.

Blake's Castle is a typical medieval, urban tower house. It preserves a number of key features, including the interesting and unusual trefoil-headed windows to one corner, and the restored machicolation to the roof level, formerly defending the doorway. During its history this building has functioned as a county jail, a store, as housing for an electrical transformer, and since the 1990s, a restaurant.

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