Dundareirke Castle (in Ruins)

In rough grazing, on S shoulder of dry E-W valley. Shown as rectangular structure on 1842 OS 6-inch map, all that stands now is N wall (L 8.5m) with short returns of E (L 4.1m) and W (L 2.4m) walls, surviving to 1st-floor level. Part of N side of splayed window embrasure in E wall at ground-floor level; part of similar window in centre of N wall at 1st-floor level. Also at 1st-floor level, mural passage in E wall, extending into N wall, accommodated at NE corner by slight squinch. Stone corbels, between ground and 1st floor, and over 1st floor, show level of former wooden floors. Smith (1750, vol. 1, 182) describes it as 'built by the MacCarthys....it is an high square building, having 70 stone steps to the battlements'; reduced to present state in 1833 when 'a great part fell' (Lee 1914, 58). Captured by O Sullivan Bear in 1602 (O Murchadha 1993, 223). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Dundareirke Castle was likely built in the 15th or 16th century by a local Gaelic family, possibly associated with the Ó Cinnéide (Kennedy) clan of east Clare. Its remains are important as a rare example of a medieval tower house in a remote landscape, illustrating regional defensive architecture and landholding patterns in early modern Ireland.