County Cork, Ireland
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
regional road The term regional road (or route) is used in a number of places to designate roads of more than purely ''local'' but less than ''national'' strategic importance in a country's highway network.
It is used formally and officially in reference to:
*R ...
Buttevant
Buttevant ( or ''Ecclesia Tumulorum'' in the Latin) is a medieval market town, incorporated by charter of Edward III, situated in North County Cork, Ireland.
While there may be reason to suggest that the town may occupy the site of an earlie ...
about two miles south of
River Awbeg
Awbeg River is a river in the southern part of Ireland. It is a tributary of the Blackwater River and flows into that larger river at a point in County Cork. Its name comes from the Irish ''Abha Bheag'' ("small river", a slightly older form t ...
. Liscarroll is within the
Cork North-West (Dáil constituency)
Cork North-West is a parliamentary constituency represented in Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Irish parliament or Oireachtas. The constituency elects 3 deputies ( Teachtaí Dála, commonly known as TDs) on the system of proportional repr ...
. Liscarroll is approximately 51km to
Cork City
Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the c ...
and 53km to
Limerick City
Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
, Liscarroll was once considered to be the cross roads of
Munster
Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...
. According to the
2016 census of Ireland
''Census 2016'' in the Republic of Ireland was held on Sunday, 24 April 2016, to administer a national census. It was organised by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) and reported a total population of 4,761,865, or a 3.8% increase since the prio ...
there are 883 individuals living in and around Liscarroll, the population had increased by 52 individuals (6.25%) since the
2011 census of Ireland
The 2011 census of Ireland was held on Sunday, 10 April 2011. It was administered by the Central Statistics Office of the Republic of Ireland and found the population of the Republic to be 4,588,252 people.Liscarroll Castle, a large 13th-century
Hiberno-Norman
From the 12th century onwards, a group of Normans invaded and settled in Gaelic Ireland. These settlers later became known as Norman Irish or Hiberno-Normans. They originated mainly among Cambro-Norman families in Wales and Anglo-Normans fro ...
fortress
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
, that still towers over the village of Liscarroll and the
surrounding countryside.
It is the third largest castle in Ireland.
The construction date of Liscarroll castle is not recorded, but a late thirteenth-century date is most likely for this type of castle. It may well have been built by David
de Barry
The de Barry family is a noble family of Cambro-Norman origins which held extensive land holdings in Wales and Ireland. The founder of the family was a Norman Knight, Odo, who assisted in the Norman Conquest of England during the 11th century. ...
who died in the late 1270s and who had served as justiciar (the king’s chief representative in Ireland) in the 1260s. Liscarroll was held by the Barrys down to the early seventeenth century, when it was acquired by an English settler, Percival.
In 1649 it was captured by Cromwellian forces under Sir
Hardress Waller
Sir Hardress Waller (1666), was an English Protestant who settled in Ireland and fought for Parliament in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A leading member of the radical element within the New Model Army, he signed the death warrant for the Exe ...
. A sustained artillery bombardment during this battle caused considerable damage to the walls, making it indefensible, a fate suffered by many castles when cannon came into common usage. Percivals regained possession of the castle after this and their descendants held it down to the twentieth century.
The castle is the subject of an 1854 poem by Callaghan Hartstonge Gayner which concludes:
Beneath its folds assemble now, and fight with might and main,
That grand old fight to make our land "
A nation once again
"A Nation Once Again" is a song written in the early to mid-1840s by Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845). Davis was a founder of Young Ireland, an Irish movement whose aim was for Ireland to gain independence from Britain.
Davis believed that son ...
",
And falter not till alien rule in dark oblivion falls,
We’ll stand as freemen yet, beneath those old Liscarroll walls.
In 1920 during the
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and United Kingdom of Gre ...
the castle was temporarily occupied by the
British military
The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, su ...
.
The Castle is under the guardianship of the
Office of Public Works
The Office of Public Works (OPW) ( ga, Oifig na nOibreacha Poiblí) (legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of ow ...
as a
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 ...
.
Other notable locations
There is a
ringfort
Ringforts, ring forts or ring fortresses are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Bronze Age up to about the year 1000. They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland. There are also many in South Wale ...
close to the village, approximately in diameter which dates to between the fifth and tenth century. It is the burial place of almost twenty members of the FitzGerald/FitzPierce family killed in the
Battle of Liscarroll
The Battle of Liscarroll was fought on 3 September 1642 in northern County Cork, Munster, between Catholic Irish insurgents and government troops. The battle was part of the Irish Rebellion, which had started in the north in 1641 reac ...
in 1642.
There are two donkey sanctuaries in the area, the Donkey Sanctuary and the Jones' household.
Liscarroll nestles in a valley surrounded by hills and this valley was once part of an ancient lake, which now lies approximately 60ft underground.
Battle of Liscarroll
The Battle of Liscarroll was fought on 3 September 1642 in northern County Cork, Munster, between Catholic Irish insurgents and government troops. The battle was part of the Irish Rebellion, which had started in the north in 1641 reac ...