Drishane Castle is a MacCarthy

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 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 ...

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 ...

. In modern times the name is also used to refer to the adjacent house which dates from the 18th century. It is located northeast of

Millstreet Millstreet () is a town in north County Cork, Ireland. As of the 2022 census, it had a population of 1,722. Millstreet is within the civil parish of Drishane, and within a Poor Law Union also called Millstreet. The Millstreet Union encompasse ...

, on the south bank of the

Munster Blackwater The Blackwater or Munster Blackwater (, The Great River) is a river which flows through counties Kerry, Cork and Waterford in Ireland. It rises in the Mullaghareirk Mountains in County Kerry and then flows in an easterly direction across Co ...

History

The tower house at Drishane was built by the MacCarthy (Mac Cárthaigh) clan c. 1436–50. It was probably begun by Dermot Mór, the second son of Tadhg (King of Desmond 1390–1428). Tadhg, son of Owen was in possession of Drishane Castle in 1592 when he surrendered it to

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 got a regrant. His son Owen (Eoin) still held the castle at his death in 1637. All MacCarthy lands were forfeit after the

Irish Confederate Wars 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 Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, all then ...

(1641–53), but were restored to

Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty Sir Donough MacCarty, 1st Earl of Clancarty (1594–1665), was an Irish soldier and politician. He succeeded his father as 2nd Viscount Muskerry in 1641. He rebelled against the government and joined the Irish Catholic Confederation, deman ...

in 1660 when Charles II regained the throne. The MacCarthys again lost their lands after the

Williamite War The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between Jacobite supporters of James II and those of his successor, William III, it resulted in a Williamite victory. It is generally viewed as a related conflic ...

(1689–91). The land fell to the

Hollow Sword Blade Company The Hollow Sword Blades Company was a British joint-stock company founded in 1691 by a goldsmith, Sir Stephen Evance, for the manufacture of hollow-ground rapiers. In 1700 the company was purchased by a syndicate of businessmen who used the corpo ...

, who sold it to Henry Wallis in 1709; the Wallises took full ownership in 1728. The Wallis family built the house, or castle as it came to be called, c. 1730. During the

Fenian Rising The Fenian Rising of 1867 (, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 1865, disaffection among Irish radical n ...

of 1867, Drishane Castle was garrisoned. It remained in Wallis hands until 1882, later being owned by Patrick Stack. It became a convent in 1909, owned by the

Sisters of the Infant Jesus The Sisters of the Infant Jesus, also known as the Dames of Saint Maur, are a religious institute of the Catholic Church originating from Paris, France and dedicated to teaching. History Origins In 1659 Barré, who was a respected scholar with ...

, who operated a boarding secondary school for girls until 1992. In 1974 it was used as a location set as the fictional Brede Abbey in the film version of

In This House of Brede ''In This House of Brede'' is a novel by Rumer Godden published in 1969 by Viking in the US and by Macmillan in the UK. Synopsis The novel is a portrait of religious life in England that centers on Philippa Talbot, a highly successful professi ...

. It was bought by the Duggan family and became a centre for

asylum seekers An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A pers ...

Tower house

The tower house is 22 m tall. It is built of stone with four storeys and narrow

arrowslit An arrowslit (often also referred to as an arrow loop, loophole or loop hole, and sometimes a balistraria) is a narrow vertical aperture in a fortification through which an archer can launch arrows or a crossbowman can launch Crossbow bolt, bolts ...

s. There are "Irish"

crenellation A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals t ...

s on the roof, and a small circular tower next to the castle.

References

{{Reflist National monuments in County Cork Castles in County Cork MacCarthy dynasty