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Townland

Reeves

An Rú

A compact limestone castle stands south of the Liffey, with traces of an adjoining defended enclosure.

Watercolour and fine ink of Reeves Castle's stone tower, round stair turret and pointed gateway beside an adjoining stone building.
Reeves Castle, its projecting stair turret and surviving gateway, as photographed in June 2025.
Recorded locationReeves53.30905° N · 6.56980° WInteractive map supplied by OpenStreetMap.
Recorded place location · Logainm.ie

The name

A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.

Recorded forms

  • An Rú · Irish · main form
  • Reeves · English · main form

Place & story

Four floors above a small footprint

The National Monuments Service describes Reeves Castle as a four-storey tower house, about 6.6 by 6.1 metres across. A semicircular turret projects from its south-eastern corner and contains a clockwise spiral stair. The castle appears on the Down Survey of 1655–56. Its fabric also records later uses: the first floor served as a granary, and an adjoining farmhouse connected with the tower. Traces of a defended gateway survive beside it. [2]

Geographic information

Place type
Townland
County
Kildare
Civil parish
Donaghcumper
Coordinates
53.30905, -6.56980
Mapped area
0.89 km²
Logainm ID
25363 ↗

People & family history

Census figures refer to the matched historical census area for each year. Boundaries and spellings can change over time.

1911 census

6People recorded
2Households recorded

Most frequent surnames in this year’s matched records

  • Broe 5
  • Hayden 1
Explore the 1911 records ↗

Sources & further reading

  1. Logainm.ie — Reeves. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
  2. KD015-002001, Reeves Castle; uploaded10June2011 · Gearóid Conroy, National Monuments Service
  3. Boundary geometry retains its source attribution and licence in the downloadable geographic record. Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.
  4. Reeves Castle and its projecting stair turret, County Kildare illustration: based on a Castles of Leinster: Reeves, Kildare (2) by Mike Searle. AI-assisted watercolour and ink adaptation; cream paper margins added, incidental clutter omitted and fine details simplified. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2019-07-02. How this page was prepared.