What is recorded here

Clonleagh Castle stands as a bawn on a Cork cliff, its wall enclosing perhaps eighty metres of forgotten life. A narrow passageway cuts down the rock to a circular tower pierced by gun loops, suggesting the place was built to watch and resist rather than merely decorate. The sea took the rest, leaving only angular stone and the certainty that someone once stood guard above the water.

Part of the bawn wall (L 11m, H c. 3m) of Clonleagh Castle (CO027-113----) runs N-S along the cliff edge ending c. 35m SW of the tower house in a fragment of a circular corner tower (int. diam. 2.3m, H c. 2m); aerial photograph (CASAP) shows outline of E and N sides of the bawn wall enclosing an area possibly 80m x 80m, with a probable circular corner tower at the NE corner. A walled passageway (Wth 0.8m; H walls 1.5m) exits the bawn area c. 18m SW of the tower house, extending down the cliff face and ending in a partially collapsed circular tower (int. diam. 2.7m) at the base of the cliff; ground floor and part of first floor survive, setback in walls over ground floor to carry ceiling joists. Ground floor walls of tower pierced by five gun loops, first floor by one (see plan in Cotter ibid., 38). 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

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