Desmond Castle, Medieval castle in Newcastle West, Ireland.

Desmond Castle consists of a two-storey medieval hall with a vaulted lower chamber and an adjoining tower, standing at the western end of Newcastle West south of the main square. The hall was restored in the early 19th century, when a replacement fireplace was brought from Kilmallock; an oak minstrels' gallery and a limestone hooded fireplace are among the restored medieval features.

A castle was built in the 13th century by the FitzGerald Earls of Desmond; by 1298 it had curtain walls and defensive towers around thatched houses, cattle byres and fishponds. Newcastle West was sacked in 1302 and destroyed in 1315. The present hall and chamber date to the 15th century. Seized by the Crown in 1591, it was retaken by James FitzThomas FitzGerald in 1598 and lost again the next year; in 1643 it was besieged for four months, then burned by the Irish Catholic Confederation, whose forces executed the garrison.

The hall was built in the 15th century on the site of an earlier FitzGerald structure and served the Earls of Desmond for banqueting and entertainment. Its restored oak minstrels' gallery and limestone hooded fireplace are medieval features; the replacement fireplace was found in Kilmallock. After 1989 the Office of Public Works began renovation, and the building later served as a Masonic hall and a cinema.

Desmond Hall and Castle stand at the western end of Newcastle West, just south of the main square. The site came into state care in 1989 and renovation by the Office of Public Works began in 1990. Visitors enter the two-storey hall through the vaulted lower chamber, with the adjoining tower beside it.

The castle was burned on 8 August 1922 during the Irish Civil War, and the Curling family owned it until the 1940s. It later served as a Masonic hall and as a cinema before the state took the site into care in 1989.