Where is the castle on the cover of The Unforgettable Fire?
The castle on The Unforgettable Fire is NOT Slane Castle. The album was partly recorded at Slane Castle, but the castle on the front cover is called Moydrum and is in County Westmeath, in the heart of Ireland, just east of the town of Athlone. It’s about a 2-hour drive from Dublin and is not easy to get to. Directions: Get on the N4, go as far as Kinegadd, then take N6. As you get on the Athlone bypass, take the first exit, and turn right. Just after you cross over the bypass, take the first right, and keep going for about a mile. Then make another right on a tiny road, for 300m, and it’s just there on your left-hand side. According to an old issue of “U2 Magazine,” the precursor to Propaganda, U2 was inspired to use the castle after a similar photo of it appeared on the cover of a book called In Ruins: The Once Great House of Ireland. The photos are strikingly similar! The castle on the back sleeve of the album is yet another castle. This is called Carrickgogunnel, in County Tipperary
