Athcarne Castle, 16th century castle ruin in Meath, Ireland

Athcarne Castle is a ruined Elizabethan castle outside Duleek in County Meath, made up of a 16th-century tower house with thick stone walls. Sir William Bathe extended it in 1590, and around 1830 the Gernon family demolished the Elizabethan mansion and added a south-facing extension with larger windows. The River Hurley flows nearby, and a dam built for their boating lake can still be seen.

A judge named William Bathe built this fortress in 1590 to serve as a stronghold. It later suffered damage during Cromwell's military campaigns and passed through several hands.

The name Athcarne may come from Áth Cairn, the fording point at the cairn, or Ard Cairn, high cairn. The historian Dr. Beryl Moore suggested the castle stands on a cairn built about 4,000 years ago; Vikings raided the cairns at Athcarne in 861. A burial mound lies southeast of the castle across the Hurley River.

Athcarne Castle stands about 6 km south of Duleek in County Meath, near the Hurley River; the battlefield of the Boyne, six miles away, is reached via the N51 through Drogheda. The dam the Gernon family built across the Hurley to flood their boating lake can still be seen in the field in front of the ruin.

Beneath the castle's foundation lies an ancient burial mound that is thousands of years old. This layering shows how different eras of Irish history overlap at this location.