About 6 months ago I was watching a documentary about Irish Castles and Tower Homes. I was intrigued by each castle and tower house, as I always am. There was one particular castle/tower house that piqued my interest. That one was owned by Sean Ryan, a professional tin whistle musician, and is known as Leap Castle. When I found out you can tour his castle that really got my interest. A Tower Castle that is still partly in ruins and being lived in. That I had to see!
3 months ago in November my family and I went to Ireland for Thanksgiving. While we were there my husband surprised me with a tour of the Tin Whistler’s tower house. I believe it cost us 6 euros a person. It was worth it! Getting to walk into a Tower House that has been slowly being worked on so it can be lived in was completely amazing to me. Sean Ryan, The Tin Whistler has done A LOT of work to his castle tower house and there is still plenty more to be done. He was very kind and generous to us. He let us explore his tower house on our own and we were able to take as long as we liked AND he let me take pictures and a video. Looking at this castle you can tell where the tower house part is and where the rest of the castle was extended.
This castle, this tower house has so many antiques! I’ve never seen so many antiques in a tower house like this! Normally the ones I go in are all in ruins and need a lot of tender loving care. This one is lived in on the first floor. There are many more levels in this tower house. One level has a lot of different antiques the others are completely unrestored. I imagine at some point Saun Ryan the Tin Whistler will want to fix it up when he can, but for now, it would be considered a ruin. I loved seeing all the different antiques he has. I was seriously mesmerized. I was taking it all in, touching the walls, looking at the wall carvings, seeing all the nick nacks, I couldn’t believe it. The top-level of this towering castle is in ruins. I probably could have stayed in that part of the tower castle for a long time.
Some people including Sean Ryan would say his castle, Leap Castle, is haunted. Some people say they have seen figures walking around at night. Some say they have heard voices and such. I believe even Sean says he and his wife have seen ghosts and heard voices. I am not the type of person to believe in that stuff, nor did I see, feel or hear anything unusual. I’m not saying these people haven’t. I’m only saying I didn’t.
What I can tell you is I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Tin Whistler’s tower castle. I loved walking up and down those spiral stairs. By the way, we were given a big flashlight to use to see in the dark going up and down those stairs. I loved seeing all the different antiques he has. I love that top level where there is nothing but a ruin. And the view of the land is beautiful! I would definitely recommend taking a tour of his house. He gives you some history of his tower castle and then he plays you a tune on his tin whistle. What more can you ask for! You can watch my video of Sean Ryan playing his tin whistle below.
Kathleen Smith author of Miscarriages My Story, Brooklyn Raised Livin’ Upstate & Hey You Moments to Remember. Blogs about a variety of things. Has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner and she is the CEO of BearsWithApps. OH, let’s not forget her YouTube channel