Bawn in Ballinscoola (smallcounty By., Cahercorney Ed) — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Ballinscoola Castle and bawn belonged to the Earl of Desmond in 1583, then passed to Don O'Grady by 1609, yet no trace remains and the exact site is still unknown. Two towers were marked in 1583, and a Civil Survey described an old castle, bawn and two cabins on Derby Grady's land, but the earth has swallowed the walls and forgotten the gate. What is left is a hole in the landscape where a town, a bawn and a castle once stood, remembered only through names repeated in documents while the ground itself refused to keep them.

The precise location of Ballinscoola Castle (LI032-163----) and bawn (LI032-163001-) within the townland has not been identified. Described by Westropp (1906-7, 185) as following; '1583 Ballinscowley, Earl of Desmond (Des. R., 3), two towers marked (Peyton, p. 80). 1609 Don O'Grady, of Kilballyowen, held Ballynskeulye in Kilkillane (Inq. Chan., 3a), and Ballineskooly C[astle], bawn, and town (Pat. R.)'. O'Kelly (1942-3, 240) recorded that 'There is now no trace of this castle and the site is not known'. The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that on the lands of Derby Grady there stood 'an ould Castle an ould Bawne wth two cabins upon it' (Simington 1938, 111). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 6 March 2020

Built by the Earl of Desmond in 1583, Ballinscoola Castle and its bawn are associated with the Desmond Rebellions, significant 16th-century uprisings against English rule in Munster.

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