castles historical cork

Built nearly 1000 years ago for the McCarthy Clan, Blarney Castle remains one of Ireland's oldest castles. Blarney Castle is a world-renowned attraction and should not be missed by anyone visiting the South West of Ireland.
The castle is full of historical treasures, which you can learn about if you visit and take a guided tour. Take time to explore the castle's beautiful surroundings also - they are truly breathtaking. Such sites include the Witches kitchen, the castle dungeons and t...

Situated on an outcrop of rock ('The Fairy Rock'), this is a 16th century tower of 4 storeys below a vaulted roof. There are turrets on opposing corners at the top.

It was built by the MacCarthys of Drishane, and Teig MacCarthy retired here after the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, but O'Sullivan Bere attacked and sacked the castle shortly afterwards.
There is also a stone circle two fields to the eat of the castle....

The kernel of the castle is a stout mid-13th century keep, almost square in plan and with walls more than 6 feet thick. The upper floors were originally made of wood, and the holes for the massive beams supporting them are still visible in the walls.

The keep is protected by an irregularly shaped curtain wall, and the corners of the stretch overlooking the river are further fortified by round turrets.

On the landward side, the gate-house of the 13th century castle was incorpor...

A 13th century castle built by the De Barrys, possibly by David Oge de Barry. it is a large square in shape, with rounded turrets at each corner.
The entrance was through the south wall where there is a large oblong tower with a long passage which was closed by a heavy door and which possibly had a portcullis.

This tower was heavily modified in the 15th or 16th century. Opposite it, in the north wall, there is another square tower. Buildings were undoubtedly built agains the int...

A fine four-storey castle which is said to be older than the date of 1585 given in a window-recess on the top floor.
It was built by Randal Hurley who married Catherine Cullinane. She may be the person whose initials are given as 'C.C.' in a window inscription on the top floor.

The carvings and decorations in these windows are the most unusual feature of this castle; one shows a woman with three roses, thought to be Catherine Cullinane and her three children, and the other has a...

A castle probably built by Sir Thomas Norreys who died in 1599. It is a long rectangular building with polygonal turrets (one incorporating a staircase) at the corners of the north wall. Wings project from the centre of the north and south walls, the northern one containing the entrance with a finely moulded doorway.

The windows are mullioned and have holes for muskets below them. The castle was besieged by Mountgarrett in 1642, but Jephson (who had married Sir Thomas Norrey's only da...

The remains of a square castle with rounded turrets at the corners and surrounded by a moat.
Although in the style of the castles of the 13th century, it was built in the 15th or 16th century, probably by the Cogans from whom it was acquired by the Earls of Desmond....

This charming informal garden on the banks of the Argideen river has been created by five generations of the Travers family.
The 121 ha estate was originally purchased with the village of Timoleague by Colonel Robert E. Travers in 1818 and he began laying out the grounds around the later Georgian house he built there. Each generation of the Travers family has added to the gardens over the intervening 160 years.

The gardens are a tribute to their plantsmanship and palm trees and ot...

Now the club-house of Monkstown Golf-club, this castle was built by Anastasia Archdeacon, nee Gould, about 1636.
She built it while her husband was away at sea, and having deducted the cost of the mason's board and lodgings from the total cost, she found she had only paid 4d for the whole castle.

It consists of a square central block flanked at the corners by four massive square towers, and it has gables at the top . It was used as a barracks in the 18th century....

A tower house with rounded corners built in 1450 by Dermot MacCarthy, Lord of Munster.
The top is modern. There is an ogee-headed window in the third floor. In 1641 it was garrisoned in support of Charles 1.

About 1643 additions were made to the castle, and several fireplaces were inserted with the monogram 'W' - the Wallis family who owned it till the end of the 19th century.

It was again garrisoned by the Fenian rising of 1867, and repaired in the last century by Lady...