Kindelstown Castle

Kindelstown Castle is a medieval castle possibly dating back to the 9th century. The  photo above shows the remains of the castle which are situated just outside Delgany village. The castle appears to have been occupied into the 18th century. Excavation also established that the south and west walls represented a replacement wall built in the 19th century. Kindelstown had connections back to 1020 with Ugaire, son of Douling, King of Leinster and Citric, Norse King of Dublin.

In the mid 1600s the castle was garrisoned during the Cromwellian Wars “to protect the property of residents in the neighbourhood”(Flannery 1990:22). Soldiers from the Confederate Army were based here in the 1640s, but they vacated it when they learned of Cromwell’s approach in September 1649 (Flannery 1990:23). Tradition has it that Cromwell and his men were staying at Killincarrig when Cromwell’s favourite horse was stolen by the Irish. In a rage, he ransacked Kindlestown Castle and then marched on to Arklow. Flannery also writes that the Archbolds held Kindlestown in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and that it was sold to the Earl of Meath in 1630. The property was once part of
the Bellevue estate and was purchased by the State from the La Touche family in 1930.