Dromaneen Castle (in Ruins) — Dromaneen

Atop a cliff edge, overlooking the Blackwater River to the N. This complex of ruined buildings with a large trapezoidal bawn (CO032-097001-; c. 180m SW-NE; c. 200m SE-NW) on rising ground to the S consists of a rectangular house (structure 1), with an addition built against the W end of the S wall (structure 2), and another rectangular building (structure 3) c. 14m to the E of the house; linking these are a series of low enclosing walls, including an entrance gateway c. 20m to the E of structure 3. This was the fortified house of the O'Callaghans (Grove White 1905-25, vol. 3, 61), and is said to have been constructed in the early 17th century on the site of an earlier castle (Smith 1750, vol. 1, 300). The MacDonagh MacCarthys were the O'Callaghans' overlords, and were supportive of English settlement in the region after the suppression of the late 16th-century rebellions - both families held onto their lands and invested in the construction of fortified houses, the O'Callaghan in Dromaneen, the MacCarthys in Kanturk: 'it can be no coincidence that both houses were built around the same time, each with nearly identical Renaissance-style doors, which may well have been carved by the same mason' (Heritage Castles of County Cork 2017, 136). The bawn was described in 1897 as being 'of about six acres, which was all paved over up to recent times' (Grove White ibid., 64). The complex was extensively repaired and partially rebuilt in by the OPW in the 1940s. Structure 1: the main house (20.2m E-W; 9.5m N-S) is 3-storey with attic, between high gables topped by rectangular chimney stacks. It is entered through the ground, 1st and 2nd floor through doors positioned E-of-centre in the S wall; the access was probably from a stairs tower which no longer survives. Only fragments of these doors survive. The ground and 1st floors are divided internally by a stone wall into a main chamber (11.8m E-W; 7.65m N-S) to the W and a smaller chamber (7m N-S; 4m E-W) to the E; the latter has a basement entered down steps in the NE corner of the main ground-floor chamber. The N wall, which overlooks the river, has symmetrical fenestration with three large windows on each floor; these have three or four light divisions separated by mullions. The windows at the W end are in a projecting bay, with inverted-keyhole gun loop in either side of the bay at ground-floor level, and a side light at 1st-floor level. The W gable has two windows for each floor, and an attic fireplace. The E gable has a fireplace and windows on each floor. The S wall has a central fireplace on the ground and 1st floor, both much ruined; a tall ope to the W of the 1st-floor fireplace, much repaired, is probably the doorway to structure 2. The house had wooden floors throughout, indicated by the large joist sockets between levels. Atop the N wall are four evenly spaced box machicolations; there is also a box machicolation at the E end of the S wall. A string course on the N and S walls incorporate hood mouldings over the 2nd-floor windows. Structure 2: Attached to the W end of the S wall of structure 1 is a rectangular extension (13.28m N-S; 7m E-W) of two storeys with attic. The W wall (in line with the W wall of structure 1) has a central fireplace on the ground floor with a domed bread oven on the S side; on the N side are two single-light windows, one with a three-centred arch. Most of the 1st floor is missing but at the N end is a window with two lights divided by a mullion. The S gable has windows at each floor level. Only a fragment of the W wall survives. At the SW corner of the structure is a square flanking tower (4.5m N-S; 4.6m E-W; internally 3m x 3m), entered on each level by a doorway from structure 2, and from outside by a ground-floor door in the N wall with round-arch and yett-hole in the W jamb. The ground floor has a small rectangular gun loop in the E, S and W walls; upper floors are lit by single-light windows. Structure 3: this is a rectangular gable-ended structure (18.75m NE-SW; 7m SE-NW), of two storeys with attic, extending SW from the cliff edge. There is a rebuilt ground-floor doorway at the N end of the NW wall; a blocked doorway at the N end of the SE wall guarded by box machicolation overhead; three damaged ground-floor opes in the SE wall - two probably windows, the most southerly one with a drawbar socket, probably a doorway; a damaged window with a decaying wooden lintel at the S end of the NW wall; and two blocked doors to the N, one with a wooden lintel. There is a window with a wooden lintel on the 1st floor in the NN wall; a recently repaired fireplace at the N end of the NW wall; and a chimney flue at the S end of the SE wall, the fireplace missing. A thick wall (T 1.75m), of which little now stands, linked the S end of the NW wall of structure 3 to the mid-point in the E wall of structure 2; a thinner wall (T 0.75m) along the top of the cliff links the NE corner of structure 1 to the N end of the NW wall of structure 3, thus creating an inner courtyard. The entry to this area was through a wide doorway in the former wall immediately W of its junction with structure 3; the door surround has a semi-elliptical arch surmounted by an entablature with frieze and cornice, similar in style to the door and fireplace at Kanturk (CO023-120----), and fireplace in Monkstown Castle (CO087-028----) inscribed with date of 1636; the door also has yett holes at the apex and on the E side. The cliff-top wall continues E of structure 3 (L 18m), then turns to S (L 6m); at this point are the remains of a gateway passage (Wth c. 2.7m), which probably gave entry to the outer courtyard on the E side of structure 3 with an extension W to structure 2, where part of the boundary wall survives running E from the SE corner of structure 2. The bawn's trapezoidal area (c. 1.85 ha) is enclosed by limestone walls, up to c. 4m H; this runs c. 30m due E from the gateway passage on the E side of structure 3, to the NE corner tower; it then turns S for c. 175m to the site of the former SE corner tower, with semi-circular projection at mid-point; it then runs W for c. 120m to the SW corner tower, this line of wall is obscured by ruined farm buildings built against its outside face; the wall then runs NW for c. 310m with a semi-circular projection at mid-point; at this point the walls end at cliff face c. 115m SW of structure 2. The S end of the E bawn wall (L c. 20m) fell during a storm in the winter of 1997/98. The SE corner tower contained a 'columbarium' (Jones 1907, 84-85); the tower stood until 1906 when it was demolished for 'the wrought stones'; Jones (ibid.) describes it as a circular tower (diam. 17ft, H 271/2ft, wall T 2ft 4in) with a door into the bawn, 13 tiers of nests (7in square; 8in deep), haphazardly placed, and with embrasures in the S and E walls; the corner tower at Carriganass Castle (CO106-001----) in West Cork has similar nesting boxes. The two surviving towers stand to one storey and are rubble-filled (int. diam. variable, 4.6m-5.4m), with gunloops along the outer circumference. Semi-circular projections mid-way along the E and W wall are similarly rubble filled and pierced with gun loops. This is a National Monument in State Guardianship (no. 339) 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. See also Heritage Castles of County Cork (Heritage Unit of Cork County Council, 2017): https://www.corkcoco.ie/sites/default/files/2022-10/heritage_castles_of_county_cork_2017.pdf See attached photographs CO032-097002-_01: Aerial view of complex, from S. CO032-097002-_02: Exterior of structure 1, from SE. CO032-097002-_03: View of castle complex from S. CO032-097002-_04: Exterior of structure 2, from SW. CO032-097002-_05: Exterior view of structures 1 and 2, from S. CO032-097002-_