Follow the roads using GPS to Castle Carra in county Mayo past the ruins of a chapel (Burriscarra) down a single lane past a working farm stop at a metal gate. Walk down a grassy lane flanked by hawthorne hedges through another revolving gate past the stone remains of a pillar and on the left overgown with ivy, trees and shrubs are the ruins of a once at least two story residence sitting near the shores of Loch Carra. The remains of a stone wall can be seen around the back of the house and connected to it. Within the shattered ruins of the main building is a small chamber with an arched roof still intact. At the end of the chamber is a small slit of a window. The outline of upperstory windows can be seen and a chimney.
These ruins are thought to be the remains of the residence of Sir Henry Lynch, 5th Baronet of Castlecarra. The Lynches, one of the 14 tribes of Galway, lost most of their estates under Cromwell but received extensive grants of land in the barony of Carra, County Mayo under the Restoration Settlement, most of which they managed to retain despite supporting the Jacobite cause.
Nearby these ruins is assumed to be Castle Carra (a square tower house) built in 13th C. by Adam De Staundun, an Anglo Norman from Warwichshire who was allowed to build the castle by the then Chief of Connaught, De Bargo. The castle was held by the De Staundun Family until the end of the 16thC. After the Restoration Castle Carra was granted to Sir Henry Lynch and was the family's main home in county Mayo for much of the 18th C. The mansion house and offices at Castlecarra were described in 1844 by Samuel Nicholson as "now almost ruins".
