Brize Castle

Brize Castle (also known as Brees Castle) is a 13th-century ruin perched on a rocky knoll between Claremorris and Balla in County Mayo. Built in the second half of the 1200s by Gerald Mc Maurice, a descendant of the Norman adventurers who invaded Ireland alongside Richard Strongbow in 1169, the castle served as the principal residence of the Prendergast family for centuries. Its legacy persists in the regional name Clanmorris and the town of Claremorris itself, which derive from the castle-owning family. Though now ruined, it remains an important monument to the Norman-Irish legacy in Connacht.