Nicholas Barby built the original tower here around 1288 on land once held by the Fitzgerald family, constructing it as a fortress to defend the village from the Uí Failghe clan, who attacked and tried to burn the town in 1310. The castle sat within the medieval Pale, the ring of fortifications that protected English rule around Dublin, and it changed hands repeatedly over the centuries among the Sutton, Kelly, and Vanhomrigh families before wine merchant Hugh Barton bought it in 1830 and added the wing that gives the castle its current shape.
Renovations in 1996 turned up a forgotten tunnel connecting the castle to Straffan’s parish church, likely used to hide priests during the era of the Penal Laws. Ken Healy converted the castle into a hotel in 1971, and among its 37 recorded owners was Eric Clapton, who bought the property in 1979. It’s now a member of Historic Hotels of Europe.