Ross Castle is a 15th century tower house and keep on the edge of Lough Leane, in Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry. It is the ancestral home of the Chiefs of the Clan O’Donoghue, later associated with the Brownes of Killarney.

The castle was among the last to resist Cromwell’s Roundheads during the Irish Confederate Wars and was only taken when artillery was brought up by boat via the River Leane. (source: Wikipedia)

There is a legend that O‘Donoghue leaped or was sucked out of the window of the grand chamber at the top of the castle and disappeared into the waters of the lake along with his horse, his table and his library. It is said that O’Donoghue now lives in a great palace at the bottom of the lake, where he keeps a close eye on everything he sees.