Ballynahow Castle (in Ruins) — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Ballynahow Castle stands on a steep incline above the Funshion River, a broken Condons tower where most of the east wall has vanished into time. Its single remaining chamber still holds the ghost of a vault and a narrow doorway cut through the south wall, inviting entry into darkness rather than light. The missing quoin stones and empty window frames suggest a building stripped and forgotten, yet the sturdy foundation implies it once resisted both weather and human ambition.

On top of a steep incline, overlooking Funshion River c. 100m to N. Rectangular tower (10m E-W; 6.6m N-S), surviving only to one storey and missing most of E wall (see plan in Cotter 1994, 105). Ground-floor doorway near N end of E wall, judging by rebate to take open door visible along E end of N wall. Ground-floor chamber (5.45m E-W; 2.85m N-S) formerly covered by vault (long axis E-W) of which only springings survive. Chamber lit by central window in S and W walls, each with wide square-set embrasure covered by segmental vault, each missing its light; S embrasure enlarged to create wide doorway. Remains of garderobe chute at E end of N wall. Quoin stones have been robbed from NW and SW corners. A castle of the Condons (Healy 1988, 382). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 4: North Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2000). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Ballynahow Castle was built in the 15th or 16th century by a local Gaelic family, likely of the Ó hEochaidh (O'Hegarty) clan, who held lands in the area. The site is important as a rare surviving example of a medieval tower house in the Ballynahow region, illustrating early Irish defensive architecture.

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