Parke's Castle

The tranquil surrounds of Parke's Castle, with swans drifting by on Lough Gill and neat grass cloaking the old moat, belie the fact that its early Plantation architecture, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, was created out of an unwelcome English landlord's insecurity and fear. The restored, three-storey castle forms part of one of the five sides of the bawn (area surrounded by walls outside the main castle), which also has three rounded turrets at its corners. It's 11km east of Sligo town.