Kilcrea Castle is a ruined 15th-century

towerhouse 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

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 ...

located near the Kilcrea Friary, west of

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

, Ireland. The tower house and friary were both built by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, 9th Lord of Muskerry.

Location

Kilcrea 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 The River Lee () is a river in Ireland. It rises in the Shehy Mountains on the western border of County Cork and flows eastwards through Cork, where it splits in two for a short distance, creating an island on which Cork's city centre is b ...

(not the River Bride that flows into 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 ...

). Kilcrea Friary is nearby to the east, on the same side of the river.

Ovens file:Double oven.jpg, upA double oven file:Four à céramique - Japan Auréa - 2011-0403- P1070446.JPG, A ceramic oven An oven is a tool that is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means o ...

is the nearest village. It is between Cork City and

Macroom Macroom (; ) is a market town in County Cork, Ireland, located in the valley of the River Sullane, halfway between Cork (city), Cork city and Killarney. Its population has grown and receded over the centuries as it went through periods of war, ...

History and construction

The 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. The overall structure was built facing north (towards the River Bride), with the main five-story tower house on the western side and the

on the eastern side towards the friary. 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, however any physical evidence of a second tower on the bawn is lost to the undergrowth. 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.

Ownership

Unlike the friary, which is in state ownership and is maintained by the National Monuments Service of Ireland, 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 Cork County Council () is the local authority of County Cork, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001, as amended. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban pl ...

Gallery

File:Kilcrea castle inner courtyard.jpg, Inner castle courtyard File:Kilcrea castle southeast tower.jpg, Southeast tower File:Kilcrea castle top of wall.jpg, Castle battlements

References

Notes

Sources

* *{{Cite book, last=Windele , first=John , author-link=John Windele , date=1839 , title=Historical and Descriptive Notices of the City of Cork and its Vicinity , publisher=Luke H. Bolster , location=Cork , oclc=20432940 , url=https://archive.org/details/historicalandde01windgoog/ Castles in County Cork Archaeological sites in County Cork Ruined castles in the Republic of Ireland