Castles By Province

In Irish the word province is "cúige" which means portion or "fifth" and was introduced when Ireland was under Gaelic rule. At the beginning of the Gaelic this system Ireland had 5 provinces which had been Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Meath. Once the seat for the High King of Ireland, Meath became part of Leinster leaving only four provinces.

When the Normans took control of Ireland they replaced the divided system with counties, which is still present today. Although the four provinces of Ireland have no official/legal status today they are more associated with sporting teams in rugby and the GAA..

Castles in Munster Irelands most Southern province Musnter consists of 6 counties which are: Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

Castles in Leinster This province is located on the East of Ireland and consists of 12 counties which are Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.