You Can Photograph This Pretty Irish Castle. You Just Can’t Go In.

You Can Photograph This Pretty Irish Castle. You Just Can’t Go In. - The New York Times

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You Can Photograph This Pretty Irish Castle. You Just Can’t Go In.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/28/world/europe/ireland-dunguaire-castle.html

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You Can Photograph This Pretty Irish Castle. You Just Can’t Go In.

Tourists still flock to the picturesque 16th-century Dunguaire Castle on Galway Bay. But in recent years, a dispute over ownership has prevented visitors from entering.

Listen · 9:14 min

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!A gray stone castle with a tower stands on a grassy hill. Many people walk on a path toward the castle gate, with blurry tall dry grass and water in the foreground.

*Dunguaire Castle in County Galway. Technically a tower house, the structure was built around 1510 as a defensive lookout and residence.

Credit...

Lucy Garrett for The New York Times*

By

Dan Barry

Dan Barry has been to Kinvara many times over the last quarter-century, including a two-month stay while on assignment for The New York Times. He hopes that he will be welcomed back.

Aug. 28, 2026

Updated 7:04 a.m. ET

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The tourists come by the busload, disgorging from motorized behemoths that seem improbable for many Irish roads. With cellphones at the ready, they head for the photogenic Dunguaire Castle, a majestic 16th-century bastion rising beside a swan-favored corner of Galway Bay.

Overlooking the sea-scented village of Kinvara, Dunguaire (pronounced doon-GWEER-ah) could well be Ireland’s most photographed castle, its image in countless brochures and promotions. But a sign on the entrance gate suggests that Ireland, known as the land of 100,000 welcomes, might have to reduce that number by at least one: “CASTLE & GROUNDS CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC.”

The map locates Dunguaire Castle, just outside of the village of Kinvara, on the southeastern shore of Galway Bay, in County Galway, on the west coast of Ireland.

Detail

area

IRELAND

Dublin

Galway

IRELAND

Galway

Dunguaire

Castle

Galway Bay

Kinvara

Cliffs of Moher

10 Miles

The New York Times

There to say hello instead one recent morning was Fran O’Reilly, a retired researcher wearing a broad-brimmed hat as protection from the day’s Irish rarity of sustained sunshine. In her hand was a document featuring a QR code that, when scanned, opened to a prewritten email of disappointment, already addressed to various government officials, to which visitors could add their own words of dismay.

With the zeal of a seasoned campaigner, Ms. O’Reilly approached clutches of puzzled tourists to explain that not long ago, the castle was open for tours and banquets — until, she said, government officials got in their own way.

Image

!A person in a white hat and black dress holds a brochure, speaking to two others. A gate and stone wall are behind them.

*Fran O’Reilly, a campaigner for a group called Save Kinvara Castle, speaking with tourists.

Credit...

Lucy Garrett for The New York Times*

Dan Barry

is a longtime reporter and columnist, having written both the “This Land” and “About New York” columns. The author of several books, he writes on myriad topics, including New York City, sports, culture and the nation.

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