Cahir Castle was built in the 13th century on a site of an earlier native fortification called a cathair (stone fort), which gave its name to the place.

The castle was built in two parts, with the side now by the street being built 200 years before the side now housing the audio-visual show.

Cahir Castle is one of the largest and best preserved castles in Ireland.

Granted to the powerful Butler family in late 14th century, the castle was enlarged and remodelled between the 15th & 17th centuries. It fell into ruin in the late 18th century and was partially restored in the 1840s. The Great Hall was partly rebuilt in 1840.

It is one of Ireland's best known tourist attractions. Now a national monument, it is managed by the Office of Public Works.

"It looks positively like something out of a Hollywood movie. Which is not a coincidence, since it has actually been used as a location for filming for quite a few movies, most notably John Boorman’s epic about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur, and Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. (and a couple scenes of Braveheart)

You have to wonder why there are so many castles in Ireland. It brings to mind something I read in a history book once. The author was explaining why it took a lot of time and a lot of work for Ireland to be dominated by foreigners. When invaders (like the Normans) invaded England, they only had to defeat the English king and then they had control over the whole country. When they got to Ireland, on the other hand, they found that there were something like 400 kings. And defeating any one of them didn’t cut much ice with most of the rest of the country. That, in a nutshell, is the essential difference between the English and the Irish." - Scott Larson