Thursday Doors – The Keep

The Keep at Trim Castle is in the heart of its grounds and on this week’s Thursday Doors we’ll have a really good look at it.

This is quite a unique structure in that along with a square tower on each corner there is another square tower on each side wall, too, thus making it a 20 sided building. This may have been an experimental design to test its security in the event of an attack from the native Irish Gaelic kings and their tribes. The function of a keep is to offer a last place of refuge if the castle walls are breached, which makes it a fortress in itself.

By the early 1500s most of Ireland was back in the control of the Gaelic chieftans, except for an area surrounding Dublin called The Pale or The English Pale. However Trim castle, which was allowed to fall into decline, still maintained a military presence as a form of protection.

No wonder Mel Gibson chose it as a location for some of the scenes for the movie Braveheart.

We couldn’t get in to have a look inside as guided tours were not operating at the time but here’s a drawing of what it used to look like in its day.

Thanks for coming along this week and if you’d like to see more, my next post will feature the remainder of the structures within the castle walls. For some amazing elevated views of Trim Castle check out the link at the end of this post.*

If you’re still in the mood for a bit more exploring after our tour around the Keep, Dan has a great selection of links to Thursday Doors from around the world over on his blog.

Aerial view of Trim Castle*

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