This beautiful collection of cigarette cards depicts 35 Irish castles at the beginning of the last century. They were produced by Mcnaughton and Jenkins, a Dublin based tobacco company who operated during the early 1900s. The cards were issued with the ‘Kerry Blue’ brand of cigarettes and were intended as collectables, to encourage further purchases. The artist who painted the images is not named but a small number of the cards are initialled J. W. C. It’s possibly that this stands for Joseph William Carey, an artist who was active during this period and whose work is of similar style.

The castle names were left blank on the original cards and instead the company offered a prize to anyone who could identify them all. As a result there are a number of castles below whose location I am unsure of. If you know any the missing castle names please leave a comment at bottom. Thanks!

1 The Rock of Cashel, Co. Tipperary

2. Blarney Castle, Co. Cork

3 Lismore Castle, Waterford

4 Johnstown Castle, Wexford

5 Carlingford Castle, Louth

6 Ballygally Castle, Antrim

7 Askeaton castle, Limerick

8. Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny

9. Menlo Castle, Galway

10. Trim Castle, Meath

11. Doe Castle, Co. Donegal

12 Enniscorthy Castle, Wexford

13 Narrow Water, Down

14 King John’s Castle, Limerick

15 Carrickfergus Castle, Antrim

16 Dunluce Castle, Antrim

17 Shane’s Castle, Co. Antrim

18. Adare Castle, Limerick

19 Blackrock Castle, Cork

20 Castle Roche, Louth

21 The Rock of Dunamase, Laois?

22. Castle location uncertain

23 Carrigadrohid Castle, Cork

24 Malahide Castle, Dublin

25. Castle location uncertain

26. Donegal Castle, Donegal

27. Benburb Castle, Tyrone

28. Ross Island Castle, Kerry

29. Glenveagh castle, Co. Donegal

30. Dunservick Castle, Antrim

31 Kylemore Abbey, Galway

32. Possibly Cahir Castle, Tipperary

33. Greencastle, Donegal

34. Castle location uncertain

35 Oranmore Castle, Galway

Notes

Images are public domain and via New York Public Library