Ferns Castle was built in the 13th century by the Normans to control their territory as part of a group of massive military castles built at strategic points. The castle at Ferns in its heyday must have been particularly imposing. The three storeys of the main block were divided into vast apartments, the upper floors of which were lit by rather splendid trefoil-pointed windows, mostly grouped in pairs beneath pointed and camber-headed embrasures. The Castle was destroyed by Cromwell in 1649. During excavations in 1972-75 a rock-cut ditch was discovered around the castle walls and a drawbridge structure was also found on the south side.
