What is recorded here

Kilcrea Castle in County Cork is a ruined bawn with a projecting two-storey tower, its thick walls still standing except where the north and south ends have collapsed or been rebuilt thinner. The ground-floor chamber held a vaulted ceiling and a strange circular hole in a stone base, while the first floor opened onto a wall walk through a doorway hidden in the south-west corner. Gun loops flank a window on the west, now blocked, as if the tower once watched the land with more than curiosity.

The bawn wall (H c. 6m; Wth c. 1.4m) of Kilcrea Castle (CO084-022001-) is intact except W ends of N and S walls; S wall rebuilt with thinner wall which now butts against S end of E wall of main tower; W end of N wall similarly rebuilt but final c. 3m now entirely fallen where wall once joined N end of E wall of main tower. Former presence of structures against inside of bawn wall suggested by: opening for garderobe chute on outside, and wall press on inside of N wall; window with square-headed light low down near S end of E wall; wall press at ground-floor level and slit window at 1st-floor level, on S wall. Bawn has 2-storey tower (4.2m E-W; 6.1m N-S) projecting E from S end of E wall (see plan ibid., opp. 175). Large gap in W wall at ground-floor level probably position of former door. Ground-floor chamber (2.8m E-W; 3.3m N-S) has lintelled recess in N wall (0.53m N-S; 0.49m E-W); base formed by stone with circular hole at centre (diam. 0.28m) now just below ground level. Chamber formerly covered by vault. First-floor chamber entered through doorway in SW corner from S bawn wall walk; lit by central windows in N, S, E and W walls, each with splayed and lintelled embrasure and single square-headed light, except W embrasure which is square-set with door in S side leading to spiral stairs which rise in SE corner and give access to wall walk of tower. Window in W wall flanked by gun loops, both blocked. 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

Kilcrea Castle was built in the 15th century by the McCarthy family, Lords of Muskerry, and is remembered as a significant example of Gaelic-Irish architecture in west Cork. Its well-preserved bawn wall and tower house reflect the defensive needs and social status of the local chieftains during the late medieval period.

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