castles historical cork

The Blarney Stone may have imparted the gift of eloquence but it did not necessarily bring good fortune. The MacCarthys forfeited their castle in the Williamite War and it was later acquired by the St. John Jefferyes family. In the 18th century James St. John Jefferys built a fanciful Georgian Gothic mansion attached to the old castle. But the house burned down and was never rebuilt.

Instead in 1874 a Scottish baronial mansion was built nearby overlooking Blarney Lake. The house i...

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 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...

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...

In this area you can take in spectacular cliff scenery on the walk from Rosscarbery Bay.
The ruined Castlefreke Castle built in 1641 is in the area....

Kinsale can easily claim its place amongst Ireland's most historic locations for this has been a centre of population, commerce, trade and fishing far beyond memory and record.

In its earliest days the estuary of the Bandon River gave it great importance as the river is tidal as far as Innishannon and water transport was dominant until the 18th Century.
The estuary also provided excellent anchorage for ancient shipping which went in peril of the vagaries of the weather.

T...

Found beside the sea in the Castletownshend area this castle was built in 1601....

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....

Now in Ruins, this area has views of the harbour....

The castle is rectangular in shape with massive square towers at each corner. The main block has four storeys, the towers have five. There is a fine Renaissance door in the first floor on the north side and a more traditional pointed door on the ground floor on the south side.

The flat 'Burgundian' arch is a feature of the ground-floor windows, while those on the upper storey and Tudor with two or three mullion. The castle has a remarkable number of well-preserved fireplaces.

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