Craggaunowen Castle, 16th-century tower house in Quin, Ireland

Craggaunowen Castle is a tower house built around 1550 by John MacSioda MacNamara, standing beside the open-air museum that takes its name. It was restored in the 1820s as a summer house by "Honest" Tom Steele, who added a turret on the hill opposite, and again in the 1960s by antiquarian John Hunt, who added a ground-floor extension that once held part of his antiquities collection.

Craggaunowen Castle was built around 1550 by John MacSioda MacNamara, a descendant of Sioda MacNamara, who built Knappogue Castle in 1467. It was left in ruins in the 17th century and made uninhabitable by the removal of its roof and staircase, and indefensible by the removal of its battlements, during the Cromwellian confiscations around 1653. In 1821 it was inherited by "Honest" Tom Steele, a confederate of Daniel O'Connell, who rebuilt it as a summer house in the 1820s. Antiquarian John Hunt bought and restored it in the 1960s.

The castle's Irish name, Creagán Eoghain, means "Owen's little rocky hill". The wider site is run as an open-air museum, and its reconstructions include a crannog, a ringfort, a dolmen and a fulacht fia, a Bronze Age cooking site. The currach on display was used by Tim Severin in his recreation of the Voyage of St Brendan.

Craggaunowen lies 10 km east of Quin village in eastern County Clare and is operated by Shannon Heritage; the castle is one component of the open-air museum, so allow time for the grounds as well as the tower. The museum displays reconstructions of a dolmen, crannog, ringfort, fulachta fia and ogham stone, plus the currach used by Tim Severin. Check opening arrangements with Shannon Heritage before travelling.

"Honest" Tom Steele, a confederate of Daniel O'Connell, inherited the ruin in 1821 and rebuilt it as a summer house in the 1820s; he also used a turret on the hill opposite as a place of recreation. His initials can be seen on one of the quoin-stones to the right outside.