Athlone Castle Visitor Centre — Attraction in County Westmeath

An interesting castle though modern exhibition design has ruined the overall experience.

In the past few years this site was renovated. I feel that the site has suffered for it in the exhibition space. Part of the tour involves recorded voices taking. It’s simply to distracting and makes it impossible to understand the importance of the site. I asked at the main desk could the audio be turned off, I was told that it couldn’t.

In the end I walked through part of the exhibition as quickly as I could. Unfortunately the room that has all the talking is vital to understanding the importance of the site.

There is also only focus on the castle, no mention of the nearby, ‘Shannon Bridge’ napoleonic period fort.

There are things for kids though such as dressing up clothes and interactive games.

I’ve been to other former military sites in Ireland and at €9 each in I feel much more could be done...

As Castle Tours go this one is quite good. The visitor will leave the castle wondering did anything else ever happen in the history of the town other than the Williamite Wars!

This is true of Athlone in general. The town story is defined around the siege and the display in the castle reflects that. One small criticism is that the mannequins representing the various figures from that war are quite grotesque - ugly Williamites do not give the idea of balance even if the Jacobites are also quite ugly too.

The video is a clever use of the rounded room. Overall I think it was worth visiting and the entrance fee was proportionate to what you see. There are good views from the castle walls and I noticed that people with small children seemed to prefer the battlements to the display. Hardly surprising! There were costumes available for children to dress in inside in...

About halfway between Galway and Dublin along the M6 lies the charming town of Athlone. It doesn't get much PR from tourism articles which is a shame because it has alot to offer. .(But a blessing for us because there was no crowd). At the heart of Athlone city center, fast on the banks of the River Shannon, lies Athlone Castle. It is a well preserved structure that played an important part in the Williamite/Jacobite war in 1691 and 1692. The castle serves as a museum of that conflict and has some interactive settings that kids will probably enjoy. It was well worth a stop for a couple of hours. Just save time for a pint at Sean's Bar. The oldest operating bar in Ireland dating to the 1100's. You better hurry though before Athlone is "discovered" by the tour...