What is recorded here

Ballymacsimon was a Fitzgerald castle on a west-facing Cork slope until a treasure hunter undermined and destroyed it in a single night during the early nineteenth century. The violent greed erased centuries of stone in hours, leaving only low undulations and a scarped garden patch for later viewers to guess at. What remains is not a ruin but a wound in the ground, marked by the absence of the very walls the man sought to strip.

In pasture, on W-facing slope. Low undulations in field, in area where site marked on OS 6-inch map, of no discernible pattern. Immediately to S level area (c. 20m E-W; c. 16m N-S), scarped up to S and cut into slope to N; possibly remains of garden feature. Ballymacsimon was a Fitzgerald castle, apparently destroyed by a treasure hunter in early 19th century who 'came and effectually destroyed it in one night by undermining' (Waters 1916,167). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East and South Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1994). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

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