Rappa Castle

Rappa Castle, located in Ballina, County Mayo, is a ruined tower house with roots tracing to the 17th century when it was held by the Bourke family and later granted to Cromwellian soldier Crofton. The castle became the family seat of William Knox and his descendants throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, with notable family members serving as High Sheriff of Mayo. Remaining in the Knox family until after the Irish War of Independence, the castle later passed to the Gillespie family, whose descendants inhabited it until the early 2000s. Now a protected structure, Rappa Castle stands as a testament to the region's Anglo-Irish heritage and the successive families who maintained it through changing centuries.