Reeves Castle, tower house in County Kildare, Ireland

Reeves Castle is a four-storey 14th-century tower house of rough grey and brown stone, with a crenellated parapet and a pyramid roof topped by a thin mast. A semi-circular stair tower rises beside it, and a two-storey stone range with five upper openings adjoins the tower, fronted by a lower rendered building with a pitched roof and a small square window. The original doorway was in the south wall, where an 18th- or 19th-century stone farmhouse was attached; an archway on the north wall may have led to a bawn.

Built in the 14th century to defend the English-controlled Pale against Gaelic raiders, the castle was burned during the Irish Rebellion of 1641 but remained standing by 1649. The Alen family leased it in 1537 and left their heraldic marks on its walls, while later it fell under the ownership of the Earls of Leitrim during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The name Reeves may come from the Anglo-Norman rive, "riverbank," though other sources link it to the Old Irish ruibh, "rue." The tower house was one of a range built to defend The Pale against Gaelic Irish raiders. The Alen family arms, affixed after Sir John Alen leased the manor of Donaghcumper in 1537, are still visible where the old castle joins the newer building.

The castle sits on private farm land and is not open to visitors, though it can be viewed from a distance in the surrounding countryside. Its rural location near the River Liffey makes it a quiet spot to explore, particularly for those interested in medieval Irish history and defensive structures.

The stone walls still bear the heraldic marks of the Alen family who leased the estate in 1537, leaving their symbols carved into the stone for centuries. These visible markings offer a direct connection to the power and control wielded by a family who occupied this land nearly 500 years ago.