Dough Castle

Dough Castle, a ruined tower house at Lahinch in County Clare, was originally established by the O'Connors in 1306 to control land and sea traffic at the mouth of the River Inagh. The castle's name derives from its location—Dumhach Ui Chonchuir, meaning sandbank of the O'Connors. It later came under O'Brien family control in 1584, with Daniel O'Brien notably sheltering English colonists in 1641 to save the structure from Cromwellian demolition. Structural collapse in 1839 and 1883 left only one wall standing, which today forms a dramatic backdrop to the Lahinch Golf Club's Castle Course. Local folklore enriches the site, telling of Donn Dumhach, a fairy king believed to haunt the surrounding sandhills.