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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Castle - tower house

Kilcoe, County Cork, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Castle - tower house, Kilcoe, County Cork, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Kilcoe
County
Cork
Country
Ireland
Latest-edition OS map
Kilcoe Castle (in Ruins) (1902)
Coordinates
51.54018, -9.41448
SMR number
CO140-032----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1841 map "Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1841 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1866 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1868 · 4. Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1882 · Ireland (southern half). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

Rectangular tower-house (12m E-W; 9.9m N-S) with conjoined tower at NE corner (6.15m E-W; 6.3m N-S), at N end small rocky island on N shore of Roaringwater Bay (island now connected to mainland by bridge). Main tower of four storeys; corner tower of six storeys. Doors in S wall at ground and 1st floor level. Ground floor chamber lit by simple light in S wall.
Straight mural stairs rises from E side of 1st floor door giving access to 1st floor itself and to 3rd floor at SE corner. First floor chamber lit only through doorways to mural passages in E, N and W walls. Pointed wicker-centered vault (axis E-W) over unlit 2nd floor attic.
Third floor chamber has large central windows on each face covered by segmental vaults; W window has pair of stone seats; S window flanked by pair of identical stone heads on outside. East wall recessed under segmental relieving arch (see CO140-045---).
First floor of corner tower entered via mural passage in N wall from main 1st floor chamber; manhole through vaulted floor gives access to unlit dungeon; garderobe chamber in S wall. Second floor entered via mural passage in E wall from main 1st floor chamber; pointed wicker-centered vault (axis E-W) overhead. Third floor entered from main 3rd floor chamber. Fourth floor entered via long mural passageway rising from E ingoing of central window in S wall of main 3rd floor chamber, leading through full length of E wall; garderobe chamber in S wall; door in W wall gives access to stairway to 5th floor over pointed wicker-centered vault (axis E-W).
Castle of Clan Dermod branch of MacCarthy Riabhach (O'Murchadha 1985, 54). Taken by Crown forces in 1603 after lengthy siege (Coleman 1927, 97).

See Excavations 1998, 20, no. 79; Excavations 2001, 44, no. 184

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
All Castle - tower house in Cork All County Cork records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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