Athclare Castle, Tudor tower house in Dunleer, Ireland.

Athclare Castle is a stone fortress with a rectangular plan that rises in Dunleer, featuring thick defensive walls across multiple floors. The narrow window openings throughout the structure reveal its defensive purpose.

The Barnewell family built the tower house in the 1550s as a fortified dwelling near the Pale border. By the 1650s it had passed to the Taaffes, who extended it, and after the Cromwellian conquest the Townley family of Lancashire held it, with Henry Townley recorded living there in 1661. It was altered again in the 1840s, when outbuildings were added to form a north courtyard.

The castle displays the building style that Irish noble families favored at the time, combining elements of protection with domestic comfort. You can see from its design that it served both as a fortress and a residence.

The castle interior is not open to visitors, but the exterior walls can be viewed from nearby public roads in County Louth. It is best to explore the property from outside and observe the stonework from various angles.

The adjoining hall contains a preserved early seventeenth-century chimneypiece that shows the craftsmanship of the period. This architectural detail is a rare glimpse into the interior finishing of such fortresses and remains visible despite the property's limited access.