What is recorded here

Castle, unclassified in An Blascaod Mór is a phantom fortress on a small NE headland, never drawn on early maps and never named in surviving documents. The Ferriters held the Blasket Islands from the 13th century, so a temporary garrison may have stood there while the main house waited elsewhere. Piaras Firtéar is traditionally placed inside it around 1641, buying hours before capture and execution in Killarney. The castle may have been little more than a guarded room, a stone wall and a door that knew when to open.

National Monument No. 63. ‘Rinn an Chaisleáin', a small headland on the NE side of the island, is reputedly the site of a castle (Flower 1944, 86). There are no known documentary references to any fortifications here and the site does not appear on any of the early maps. The Blasket Islands were leased from the Earl of Desmond by the Ferriters from the 13th century (Westropp 1910, 204) and it is possible that a garrison may have been kept there intermittently. The castle is traditionally associated with the poet, Piaras Firtéar, who sought temporary refuge here c. 1641 but was subsequently captured and executed in Killarney (OSNB Dunquin, 20). The above description is derived from J. Cuppage, ‘Corca Dhuibhne. Dingle Peninsula archaeological survey. Ballyferriter. Oidhreacht Chorca Dhuibhne’ (1986), no. 1008. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 6 August 2013

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