Castle - tower house

The National Monuments Service's description

A castle built by the Husseys was granted to the Earl of Ormond in the confiscations which followed the Desmond Rebellion (Smith 1756, 177). It was subsequently purchased by the Knight of Kerry and later, known as the Market House, it became the official residence of the Sovereign of Dingle (McKenna 1979, 24). The vaults were used as the town jail until 1815 (O'Sullivan 1931, 131). A pointed doorway, probably of medieval origin, was preserved in the remains of a building on the site in 1853 (Hitchcock 1855, 355). A lintelled passageway leading to a chamber, c. 3 x 1m, uncovered in an adjacent garden c. 1952, may also have been associated with this castle (OPW). The site lies at the rear of a business premises on Main Street; inserted in the wall of an adjacent outbuilding is a carved stone decorated with a 16th century paired vine motif with interlaced stem.

Hussey House described in the Urban Survey of Kerry (Bradley 1987, 63-4) as follows; 'Another important building that was mentioned in Dingle's proposed charter of 1585 which granted the corporation a house in the town forfeited by John Hussey "to make of the same a gaol and a common Court-house (Morrin 1862, 105). Smith (1756, 176) claimed that the building was granted on its forfeiture to the earl of Ormond and later bought by the Knight of Kerry; it was functioning in 1756 as the town gaol. O'Donovan (1983, 115) could find no trace of this gaol in 1841 but Hitchcock (1854-5, 355) supplies a description of the building. It was located to the rear of the then market-house and it still displayed "a low dark, doorway, and a small cut stone and grated window", while apparently built into modern walls were "a cut stone doorway the shape being something between semi-circular and pointed, but approaching more to the latter", and a stone with "a portion of some raised carving, resembling (as well as I could see it a tree".
It was located on the south side of Main St., on the site of the present P. T. Fitzgerald's Supermarket. Nothing remains of the pointed door, linteled passage, or room, which probably formed part of a back house, or middle-house, in the original complex. The decorated stone (KE043-224032-) survives, however, embedded at second floor level in the east facing wall of a building at the rear of the supermarket. It is decorated in relief with two intertwined ivy leaves'.

The above description is derived from J. Cuppage (compiler) 'Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey.' Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne (1986), no. 1011. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 19 April 2022

References

Hitchcock, R. 1854 Kerry papers: notes on the round towers. Proceedings of the Kilkenny and Southeast of Ireland Archaeological Society, 1-4.

O'Donovan, J. 1983 The antiquities of the county of Kerry. Cork. Royal Carbery Books.

O'Sullivan, T.F. 1931 Romantic hidden Kerry. Tralee. The Kerryman.

Cuppage, J. 1986 Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne.

Bradley, J., Halpin, A., and King, H.A. 1987 Urban archaeological survey - county Kerry. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

Smith, C. 1756 (Reprint 1969) The ancient and present state of the county of Kerry. Cork. The Mercier Press.

Hitchcock, R. 1855 The Castles of Corkaguiny, County of Kerry. No. I. Proceedings and Transactions of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, 345-356.

McKenna, J. 1979 Dingle.... some of its story. Tralee.

Morrin, J. (ed.) 1862 Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls of Chancery in Ireland, from the 18th to the 45th of Queen Elizabeth. Dublin. HMSO.