Castle Map

Castle

Kilcoe Castle

Ireland

Location
County Cork
Coordinates
51.54024°, -9.41442°
Links
Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Wikipedia ↗
Kilcoe Castle in Ireland
Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

Kilcoe Castle is a 15th-century coastal tower house located on a 0.81 ha (2 acres) island, called Mannin Beg, in the Kilcoe townland in Roaringwater Bay in West Cork, Ireland.

The structure, similar to some other tower houses of Irish clans involved in maritime and fishing trade, is built directly on the coastline, with parts of rock smoothened and made into a slipway, possibly to enable the hauling up of boats, fishnets and supplies. The building is a rectangular, four-storey tower 20 m (65 ft) in height, with another 26 m (85 ft) high, seven-storey tower, with a smaller footprint, attached at one corner. The design with a flanking tower is characteristic of West Cork castles, another example is Dunmanus Castle situated on the opposite side of the peninsula. In steep stairsteps there are slits that were designed to allow the castle's defenders to poke intruders with spears, a common feature in medieval castles. Its walls are between 0.91 and 2.13 m (3 and 7 ft) thick.

There are passages in the walls between the larger tower and the smaller one, enabling access to individual rooms. Two of these rooms could serve as prisons, with the upper one with windows for more valuable prisoners and hostages, and the lower dark one for the more common criminals. The arrangement with two prison rooms, and the fact that the dungeon was on one of the upper floors rather than underground, may have been unique to this castle. The towers are furnished with crenellations typical of Irish tower houses. The structure is surrounded by a stone wall which offered privacy and protection against the waves and intruders. The wall is punctured by arrow loops, and topped with a walkway. It is the largest castle in the Roaringwater Bay, and the design with an additional corner tower distinguishes it from other tower houses in the area.

The castle was built in 1458 by the Clan Dermod branch of the MacCarthys. In 1603, during a lengthy siege, it was defended by Fineen O'Driscoll's son Conchobhar (Connor) and ultimately surrendered to the English forces of George Carew led by Captain George Flower. According to legend, the invaders threw the defenders off the top. It was the last castle to fall in Munster (and more specifically in the former barony of Carbery) after the defeat at Kinsale.

Text adapted from “Kilcoe Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Kilcoe Castle ranks #4,116 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #58 of the 186 mapped in Ireland. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 6,346 times in the last 60 days, more than 91% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Cork, 76 km away. See how Ireland compares in the castle statistics.

Castles nearby

More castles in Ireland