Parke's Castle (also known as Newtown Castle and O'Rourke's Castle) is a 17th century semi-fortified manor house, situated on the northeast shore of Lough Gill. The castle is built on the site of an earlier sixteenth-century O'Rourke (Uí Ruairc) Gaelic tower house. The castle and bawn had come into the possession of Robert Parke by 1628, possibly earlier. He had been granted some of the former O'Rourke lands as part of the Plantations. By 1635, Parke had completed his fortified manor house on the site of the older Gaelic castle.
Once the Parke family were deceased, the castle passed to the Gore family by the late 1670s, and the manor house was last lived in around 1700. The building quickly became a ruin and remained uninhabited for over 300 years. The bawn was used as a farmyard and stables by the residents of Newtown village right up until the mid-20th century. The building was acquired by the Office of Public Works in 1935.
Excavations directed by Claire Foley between 1971 and 1975 revealed the foundations of O'Rourke's tower house and a number of other structures within the bawn. The castle was restored and refurbished between 1980 and 1988, and has been open to the public on a seasonal basis since 1990.
References:The Temple of Edfu is one of the best preserved ancient shrines in Egypt. It was built in the Ptolemaic Kingdom between 237 and 57 BC.
Edfu was one of several temples built during the Ptolemaic Kingdom, including the Dendera Temple complex, Esna, the Temple of Kom Ombo, and Philae. Its size reflects the relative prosperity of the time. The present temple initially consisted of a pillared hall, two transverse halls, and a barque sanctuary surrounded by chapels. The building was started during the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes and completed in 57 BC under Ptolemy XII Auletes. It was built on the site of an earlier, smaller temple also dedicated to Horus, although the previous structure was oriented east–west rather than north–south as in the present site.