Ross Castle () is a 15th-century

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

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

on the edge of Lough Leane, in Killarney National Park,

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. It is the ancestral home of the Chiefs of the

Clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

O'Donoghue Donoghue or O'Donoghue is an anglicised form of the Irish language surname Ó Donnchadha or Ó Donnchú. Etymology The name means "descendant of Donnchadh", a personal name composed of the elements ''donn'' "brown-haired an and ''cath'' "batt ...

, later associated with the Brownes of Killarney. The castle is operated 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 ...

, and is open to the public seasonally with guided tours.

History

Ross Castle was built in the late 15th century by local ruling clan the O'Donoghues Mór (Ross), though ownership changed hands during the

Second Desmond Rebellion The Second Desmond Rebellion (1579–1583) was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions in Ireland launched by the FitzGerald Dynasty of County Desmond, Desmond in Munster against English rule. The second rebellion began in ...

of the 1580s to the MacCarthy Mór. He then leased the castle and the lands to Sir Valentine Browne, ancestor of the Earls of Kenmare. The castle was amongst the last to surrender to

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

's Roundheads during 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 ...

, and was only taken when artillery was brought by boat via the River Laune. Lord Muskerry (MacCarthy) held the castle against

Edmund Ludlow Edmund Ludlow (c. 1617–1692) was an English parliamentarian, best known for his involvement in the execution of Charles I, and for his ''Memoirs'', which were published posthumously in a rewritten form and which have become a major source ...

who marched to Ross with 4,000 foot-soldiers and 200 horse; however, it was by water that he attacked the stronghold. The Irish had a prophecy that Ross could never be taken until a warship could swim on the lake, an unbelievable prospect.

::Ross may all assault disdain ::Till on Lough Lein strange ship shall sail.

At the end of the wars, the Brownes were able to show that their heir was too young to have taken part in the rebellion and they retained the lands. By about 1688, they had erected a mansion house near the castle, but their adherence to King

James II of England James II and VII (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) was King of England and Monarchy of Ireland, Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II of England, Charles II, on 6 February 1 ...

after the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

caused them to be exiled. The castle became a military barracks, which remained so until early in the 19th century. The Brownes did not return to live at Ross but built Kenmare House near Killarney. There is a legend that O'Donoghue leapt or was sucked out of the window of the grand chamber at the top of the castle and disappeared into the waters of the lake along with his horse, his table and his library. It is said that O'Donoghue now lives in a great palace at the bottom of the lake where he keeps a close eye on everything that he sees.

Governors

Governors of the garrison at Ross Castle included: *–1652: Pierce Ferriter *Sir John Peyton, Bt (died 1675) *: Colonel Sir John Edgeworth *: Colonel Richard Hedges *1715: John Sterling *1721:

William FitzMaurice, 2nd Earl of Kerry William FitzMaurice, 2nd Earl of Kerry Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire) (1694 – 4 April 1747) was a British Army officer and peer. He was the eldest son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, 1st Earl of Kerry and Anne Petty. In 1738, he married Lady Gertrud ...

(died 1747) *1753–1762: Lieut-General John FolliotW. R. Williams, "An English Army List of 1740" in '' Notes and Queries'', 12 ser., vol. III
pp. 190-191
10 March 1917. *1762: Sir Francis Lumm, 1st Baronet (died 1797) (High Sheriff of King's County, 1755) *–1801: Lieut-General Charles Eustace (1736-1801) (MP for Fethard, Wexford) *1801–1835: Lieut-General Sir Henry Johnson

Defensive features

Basic structure

The castle is typical of strongholds of Irish chieftains built during the Middle Ages. The

had square

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 on diagonally opposite corners and a thick end wall. The tower was originally surrounded by a square

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 ...

defended by round corner towers on each end.

Front entrance

The front entrance was a small anteroom secured by an iron grill or ' yett' at the outer wall. The yett could be closed from the inside via a chain that could then be secured even if the front door was closed. This room provided small side access holes and a "

murder-hole A murder hole or meurtrière is a hole in the ceiling of a gateway or passageway in a fortification through which the defenders could shoot, throw or pour harmful substances or objects such as rocks, arrows, scalding water, hot sand, quicklime ...

" above which allowed the defenders to attack anybody in the room. The front door, on the inside of the anteroom, was constructed of two layers of thick Irish oak, one layer 90 degrees to the other with the boards riveted together. If the door was a single layer with the wood fibres going in a single direction, it would have been possible to split the door. The second cross-layer prevented that. The door opened inward and was backed by two heavy beams fitted into the stone structure.

Windows

Windows at the lower levels were vertical thin slits preventing entrance into the structure but allowing persons inside to aim and fire arrows or guns at attackers. The windows on the top levels were larger to allow in light. It was felt that attackers would not be able to scale to those heights so larger windows were safe.

Machicolation

Machicolations were stone structures at the top of the castle protruding out from the wall with a hole in the floor. There are two on Ross Castle, one over the front door and another on the back wall. The one at the front would allow defenders to drop stones or boiling oil on attackers at the front door, the only entrance to the castle.

Parapet

The parapet at roof level is '

crenellated 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 ...

' providing ups, 'merlons' and downs, 'crenels', to allow defenders to hide behind the merlons while firing arrows or guns through the crenels.

Inner rooms

The first floor was used for storage. The second floor was a living space for the house attendants and guards. Straw was spread on the floor to sleep on. There was typically no furniture. The third floor was for food preparation and living and eating space for the house attendants and guards. The fourth floor was the sleeping and living space for the chieftain and his family. The fourth floor had an arched stone roof supporting a stone floor of the fifth story as compared to the wood beam floors of the lower stories. The fifth floor was the great room where the chieftain ate and entertained. This room was also the last sanctuary as it had a stone floor as a fire break from fire in the lower floors.

Gallery

File:DV405 no.269 Ross Castle.png, Sketch of Ross Castle, 1830 File:Ross Castle, I, Killarney. County Kerry, Ireland.jpg, Photo of Ross Castle, circa 1900 File:Hallowed walls and halls (30487451091).jpg, Ross Castle circa 1910 File:Ross Castle keep.jpg, Ross Castle keep File:Ross Castle gate.jpg, The main gate File:County Kerry - Ross Castle - 20200914175843.jpeg, Sunset at Ross Castle

Notes

External links

Ross Castle
– Visitor information at Heritage Ireland {{Historic Irish houses Buildings and structures in Killarney Castles in County Kerry Historic house museums in the Republic of Ireland MacCarthy dynasty Museums in County Kerry National monuments in County Kerry