Ormond Castle, Carrick-on-Suir

The finest surviving Elizabethan manor house in the country, built in the 1560s by Thomas Butler, tenth Earl of Ormond, a cousin and favourite of Elizabeth the First. Unlike the fortified tower houses common at the time, it was designed as an unfortified gabled residence, reflecting a rare period of confidence. The long gallery inside retains elaborate decorative plasterwork with portraits of the queen and her arms. Two earlier medieval towers survive at the rear, contrasting sharply with the refined domestic wing.