A roofless medieval tower beside Easkey pier on Sligo's north coast, climbed by a hidden spiral stair to the "Sailor's Bed" and wide Atlantic views. The walls around it still bristle with gun-loops.
Behind a low archway to the right of the modern south entrance, a hidden spiral stair climbs the tower to its flat top, known locally as the Sailor's Bed. The steps are uneven and there are no guard-rails, so the ascent and the coastal view are entirely at your own risk.
The tower is only one part of a two-phase walled bawn, whose surviving southern and eastern walls are pierced with gun-loops and flanked by round corner turrets with corbelled roofs. Later farmyard walls built inside show how the fortification became a farm.
Below the walls the rock shore and tidal pools are a favourite spot for fossil-hunting and for watching the Atlantic swell break over the boulders.
A flat 2 km loop follows the Easkey river from the village down to the pier and the castle. The LEAP heritage sign at the pier counts Roslee as stop 10 of the local trail and is worth reading.
Easkey's waves are rated among the best in Europe, and the castle has shared this bay with surfers for as long as anyone remembers. The shore path is the place to watch them.
Local tradition says the castle was built in 1207 for Oliver McDonnell; the visible fabric — gun-loops, turrets and wicker-centred arches — is late 16th to early 17th century and first documented in the 1618 James I grant to Daniel O'Dowd.
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