Ballymalis Castle is a
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 ...
and
National Monument
A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...
located in
County Kerry
County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...
,
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 ...
.
Location
Ballymalis Castle is located northwest of
Beaufort, on the north bank of the
River Laune
The River Laune (; Irish: ''An Leamhain'') is a river in County Kerry, Ireland, which flows from Lough Leane (sometimes written as Lough Lein), one of the Lakes of Killarney, through Beaufort, past Ballymalis Castle, through the town of Ki ...
, near its confluence with the
River Gaddagh. The
Ring of Kerry
The Ring of Kerry () is a circular tourist route in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. Clockwise from Killarney it follows the N71 to Kenmare, then the N70 around the Iveragh Peninsula to Killorglin – passing through Sneem, Watervi ...
runs to the north.
History
This castle was built in the early 16th century by the
Ó Muircheartaigh
The name Moriarty is an Anglicized version of the Irish name Ó Muircheartaigh which originated in County Kerry in Ireland. ''Ó Muircheartaigh'' can be translated to mean 'navigator' or 'sea worthy', as the Irish word '' muir'' means sea (cog ...
(O'Moriartys). It later passed to the Ó Fearghuis (Ferrises), who renovated it in the late 16th century. In 1677 the manor was confiscated by the British Crown and granted to
Sir Francis Brewster, who granted it to the Eager (Eagar) family.
Building
This is a tower house, partially restored. It is rectangular, with four storeys and an attic, with
bartizan
A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...
s in the southwest and northeast corners. Also featured are slopstones, a
machicolation
In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key ...
, chimneys, fireplaces and decorated windows with
mullion
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...
s and
transoms. Some of the
alure
An alure (O. Fr., from ''aller'', "to walk") or allure is an architectural term for an alley, passage, the water-way or flat gutter behind a parapet, the galleries of a clerestory, or sometimes even the aisle itself of a church. The term is occasi ...
(
wall-walk) survives.
References
National monuments in County Kerry
Castles in County Kerry
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