Askeaton (, Waterfall of Géitine, also historically spelt Askettin), is a town in County Limerick, Ireland. The town on the N69, the road between Limerick and Tralee, is built on the banks of the River Deel some 3 km upstream from the estuary of the River Shannon. Among the historic structures in the town are a castle dating from 1199 and a Franciscan friary dating from 1389. The castle was abandoned to the English in 1580 – its walls blown up by the fleeing defenders – after the fall of Carrigafoyle Castle during the Desmond Rebellions. Askeaton was a constituency in the Irish House of Commons represented by two members until the dissolution of the parliament in 1801. Desmond Castle The focal point of the town is Desmond Castle, which stands in the center of the town on a rocky island on the river Deel. The castle has protected Askeaton since 1199, when it was given to Hamo de Valoignes, the Justiciary of Ireland between 1197 and 1199. In the Annals of Inisfallen, William de Burgo is recorded as having been granted the castle and estates by the king of Thomand, Dónal Mór. In 1348, Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond paid 40 shillings for the barony of Lystifti. The building that stands today dates from that time. The Earls of Desmond were to become a powerful presence in Munster, of whom it was said that they had become "more Irish than the Irish themselves" – they lived in the Gaelic manner, following the Brehon Laws, dressed in the Irish manner, spoke Irish, played Irish music and games, rode and hunted, and respected poets. The family had generations of enmity with the MacCarthys to the south in Cork and Kerry, as well as with their bitter Anglo-Norman rivals, the Butlers, Earls of Ormond. The earliest written reference to the castle appears in Leabhar nanCeart, in English The Book of Rights, compiled in the 15th century, in which the fort of Gephtine is mentioned as being reserved to the King of Cashel. The Earls of Desmond, the FitzGeralds, held possession of the castle for over 200 years; it was the centre of their power, and they ruled Munster from it. The tragic Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond, had a powerful stronghold at Askeaton in 1559. The English tried to impose a policy of surrender on the Irish lords who rebelled