Barryscourt Castle (''Caisleán Chúirt an Bharraigh'' in Irish) is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

located in eastern

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

in southern

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, close to the town of

Carrigtwohill Carrigtwohill, officially Carrigtohill (), is a town in County Cork, Ireland with a population of 5,568 (2022). It is 12 kilometres east of Cork city centre. It is connected to Cork Suburban Rail and is bypassed by the N25 road. Carrigtwoh ...

History

The site on which Barryscourt castle now stands has been occupied for over a thousand years- there is evidence of a wooden

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

having been built next to a stream at the site sometime in the 7th century, long before any fortification existed there. Barryscourt fell into the hands of the Anglo-Norman

de Barry The de Barry family (de Barra/Barri) is a noble Cambro-Norman family which held extensive land holdings in Wales and Ireland. The founder of the de Barry family was a Norman knight, Odo, who assisted in the Norman Conquest of England and south- ...

family in the 12th century, and masonry from this period found at the site may be the remains of another watermill or possibly an early fortification built by the Barrys. While the de Barry's lands in various parts of

were divided amongst various branches of the family, Barryscourt remained in the possession of the most powerful branch, the Barrymores (''Barra mór'' or "Great Barry" in Irish). The Barrymore line later became extinct, Barryscourt thus passing to a distant cousin, James FitzRichard of the Barryroes (''Barra rua'', "Red Barry"), in 1556. The present

Tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

at Barryscourt was probably built late in the reign of the Barrymores, either in the 15th or 16th century, with a tentative date of about 1550 based on the architectural style, and became the family seat of the Barrys. The Barrys supported the

Desmond Rebellions The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster. They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies, ...

of 1569 and 1579, and in 1581 they destroyed or severely damaged the family castles to prevent English forces from capturing them, including Barryscourt, which was threatened by an army led by

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...

. After the suppression of the second rebellion, the Barrys were pardoned by

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

and Barryscourt was repaired, with an outer wall or "

bawn A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional s ...

" surrounding an inner courtyard being added, including 3 corner towers. The English-born judge

Luke Gernon Luke Gernon (c.1580 – c.1672) was an Irish judge who held office in seventeenth-century Ireland. He is best remembered today for his manuscript (which seems to have been a private letter) called ''A Discourse of Ireland''. The ''Discourse'' was ...

visited the castle in 1620 and left a detailed description of it.Gernon, Luke '' A Discourse of Ireland'' (1620) Barryscourt ceased to be the main residence of the Barry family in 1617, but was evidently still an important fortification for many years afterwards, as it was attacked and captured in 1645, during the

Irish Confederate War The Irish Confederate Wars, took place from 1641 to 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in Ireland, England and Scotland, all then ruled by Charles I. The conflict caused an estimated 200,000 ...

. The marks caused by the impact of

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

balls during this attack can still be seen on the castle walls. Barryscourt castle eventually fell into disuse, and a house was built by the Coppinger family (who had taken over the property from the Barrys) next to the castle in the early 18th century; this house has long since disappeared. The Barryscourt Trust was set up in 1987 for the purpose of conserving and developing the potential of the castle as a heritage site. In the 1990s, the relatively intact shell of the tower house was repaired and reroofed by

Dúchas Dúchas, sometimes Dúchas: The Heritage Service, was an executive agency of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands of the Government of Ireland responsible for Heritage management, including: * natural heritage (including ...

, and is now a popular tourist heritage site run by the

Office of Public Works The Office of Public Works (OPW) (; legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Government of Ireland, Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of owned and ren ...

. The interior is furnished as it would have been in the 16th century. The castle has daily guided tours available free of charge.

Architecture

Barryscourt castle was built in a style fairly typical in

in the 16th century, consisting of a main tower house building with smaller adjacent buildings arranged around a courtyard, which was protected by an outer "bawn" or curtain wall, with 3 smaller corner towers. A large building once stood next to the main tower inside the bawn, and was probably a dining hall, but only ruins remain. The main tower is situated at the south-west corner of the roughly rectangular curtain wall and the main entrance to the courtyard is right next to it, set into the south curtain wall (there is also a smaller gate in the north curtain wall). The dungeon is a drop-prisoner-in-from-the-top type. Three smaller turrets project from the north-east, south-east and south-west corners of the main tower. These three turrets are 5 storeys high, while the main block of the tower is only 3 storeys high.

References

External links

Official webpage at Heritage Ireland site
(archived 2010) {{Historic Irish houses , state=collapsed Castles in County Cork National monuments in County Cork De Barry family Historic house museums in the Republic of Ireland Museums in County Cork Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland

History

Architecture

See also

Further reading

References

External links