I'm perhaps very late in posting to this thread - but I have visited the Castle of Dromore which is now a private home. The lyrics always familiar in my memory, confirmed that the Castle in Kerry, near Kenmare is the Castle of Dromore refered to in the song.

The castle is not ancient, in fact it is Victorian, built in 1839.   The reference of it being built by the Mahony's whose last descendant to own and live in the castle was a tennis player, Harold Mahony is true. The remains of the tennis court flank the castle which overlooks the Kenmare River.

Certainly the Castle has lofty halls, and being on the river perched above a vast estate of pature and woods, one can imagine the winds lamenting around. But what gave me certainty that this was the castle in the song was viewing the bones of the old gardens. They still exist, though nothing has grown in them for decades. They are walled with paths and small buildings, gates for entry, one into another. Some were terraced, others had small trees, and formal deliniations.

The gardens of Dromore were a perfect playground for the nineteenth century child needing to be contained in order to be protected from wandering livestock and the shores of the Kenmare River. But more important, they are magical, a place to discover, to pretend, to escape into one's imagination... certainly a place to thrive and rest.

I've written more about the castle and posted current photos on my blogsite. http://thinplaces.blogspot.com/2007/09/castle-of-dromore.html

Thanks to all of you that posted about the Castle of Dromore. It was this forum that led me to search for and find it in Kerry.