Kilcrea Castle is a ruined 15th-century towerhouse and bawn located near the Kilcrea Friary, west of Cork City, Ireland. The tower house and friary were both built by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, 9th Lord of Muskerry.
| Kilcrea Castle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coordinates | 51°51′54″N 8°43′05″W / 51.865°N 8.718°W |
| Area | County Cork, Ireland |
| Built | Mid-15th century[1] |
| Built for | MacCarthys of Muskerry |
| Architectural style(s) | tower house and bawn |
| Governing body | On private land |
  Kilcrea Castle in Ireland | |
Location
editKilcrea Castle stands in a copse, which almost hides it, in the valley of the River Bride on its right (southern) bank. This River Bride is a right-hand tributary of the River Lee (not the River Bride that flows into the Munster Blackwater).
Kilcrea Friary is nearby to the east, on the same side of the river. Ovens is the nearest village. It is between Cork City and Macroom.
History and construction
editThe castle was completed by 1465 by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, 9th Lord of Muskerry and founder of Kilcrea Friary, in a marshy area over an old fort possibly dating to the Bronze Age.[2]
The overall structure was built facing north (towards the River Bride), with the main five-story tower house on the western side and the bawn on the eastern side towards the friary.[3] The remains of a three-story tower anchor the southeast corner of the bawn. Text from the 1840s state that the bawn was enclosed with two square towers,[4] however any physical evidence of a second tower on the bawn is lost to the undergrowth.[citation needed]
In the mid-19th century a cutting of the now disused Cork and Macroom Railway line was built through the moat of the castle on the northern side.[citation needed]
Ownership
editUnlike the friary, which is in state ownership and is maintained by the National Monuments Service of Ireland,[5] the ruins are on privately owned lands, the land immediate to, and including the ruins themselves, currently serving as a cattle farm. The castle is listed as a protected structure by Cork County Council.[6]
Gallery
edit-
Inner castle courtyard -
Southeast tower -
Castle battlements
References
editNotes
edit- ^ "Kilcrea Castle - Description". Gazetteer of Irish Antiquities. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
- ^ Westropp 1908, p. 159, 220.
- ^ Windele 1839, p. 230.
- ^ Coyne, J. Stirling; Willis, N. P. (1841). "The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland". Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ^ "National Monuments in State Care: Ownership & Guardianship" (PDF). National Monuments Service. Republic of Ireland. 4 March 2009. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
- ^ "Cork County Council - Record of Protected Structures (Structure number 00555)" (PDF). Cork County Council. p. 29. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
Sources
edit- Westropp, Thomas Johnson (1908). "The Monastery of St. Brigid, Kilcrea, and the Castle of the MacCarthys" (PDF). Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. 14 (80): 157–177.
- Windele, John (1839). Historical and Descriptive Notices of the City of Cork and its Vicinity. Cork: Luke H. Bolster. OCLC 20432940.