Castle (in Ruins) — Dunkerron

Dunkerron Castle / Dún Ciaráin: This tower house served as the principal residence of the O'Sullivan Mores (Bulter 1925, 47). In 1580 Owen O'Sullivan was inaugurated as O'Sullivan More, and he and his second wife, Sily MacCarthy Riabhach, are reputed to have built the manor house adjoining the castle (RIA MS 24 K 43). In 1588 he was described as 'lord of a great country, the Earl's [of Clancarr] seneschal and marshal' (Cal State Papers, 538). In 1632, during its occupancy by Donal O'Sullivan More, the castle was described as 'a strong and defensible building' (Windele 1858, 296-7). It remained O'Sullivan More property until 1656, when it was confiscated. It was then acquired by Sir William Petty, and subsequent attempts by O'Sullivan More to petition the return of his lands failed (Butler 1925, 43-4). The castle stands on a low rise of limestone outcrop on the grounds of Dunkerron House, c. 3km W of Kenmare. It overlooks Kenmare Bay to S and commands fine views of the Beara Peninsula beyond. A short distance to N is Dunkerron House and a number of modern buildings, while at E are the remains of Dunkerron Court. Close to the base of the castle at its N, E and S sides are the concrete remains of several stages of a crazy golf course. The castle comprises a large, ivy-clad tower house with a small attached bawn on its S side. Only scant remains of the latter survive and, apart from the returns of the E and W walls at N, the S, E and W walls of the castle do not survive above the upper levels of the ground floor. The N wall stands to its full height of 18.3m. The castle is rectangular in plan and measures 12m x 10.8m; at the W end of its S side is an attached turret measuring 4.6m x 3.8m. The building is constructed of roughly coursed limestone blocks, slabs and split stone rubble laid in a lime, gravel and stone-chip mortar. The walls, which average 2.6m in basal thickness, rise from battered bases returned to an average height of 2.3m. The large, roughly hammered limestone quoins are alternately face-bedded and the window dressings, where visible, are of limestone. The building is of four storeys with a vault, now collapsed, roofing the first floor level. The internal planning appears to have consisted of a main chamber at each level, adjoined in the upper storeys by mural passageways and chambers at E. Presumably, communication was by means of a stair in the now destroyed SE angle. The stepped battlements of the tower house survive at N. The entrance is located at ground floor level along the S wall and is approached through the remains of the bawn. The doorway, the external stone facing of which is missing, survives as a wide ragged gap with a pivot-hole on the E side of its threshold. The vault of the small entrance lobby is of pitched stone and retains clear traces of plank-centring, the nib-holes of which are preserved on the E and W sides. A straight mural stair ascends E from the lobby to first floor level. This is approached through a doorway with roughly dressed jambs; the upper pivot-hole for the door survives at S and it was secured from within by a drawbar, the socket and channel for which are preserved. The entrance lobby communicates with the ground floor chamber through a doorway which features a pointed head formed of pitched slabs and roughly dressed jambs; the E jamb has a broad chamfer. Internally, the doorway is set in an embrasure fitted with a drawbar socket and channel; its segmental arched roof was raised on plank-centring, the nib-holes for which are preserved, and its E ingoing is splayed to accommodate the door when open. The ground floor chamber measures 6.6m x 5.5m. It was lit by centrally placed loops in the N, E and W walls. Only the N ingoing and floor of the blocked embrasure of the loop at E survive, but those at N and W are double-splayed and average 1.1m in height. They were fitted internally for wooden shutters, the upper pivot-holes and drawbar sockets for which survive, and are set in large, lintelled embrasures. Wall-cupboards occur in the NE and NW corners. Traces of a mural chamber are preserved above the level of the window embrasure in the largely destroyed E wall. It was entered through a doorway in the SW angle, only the S jamb and lower pivot-stone of which survive. Access to the first storey of the tower house appears to have been by means of the mural stair which ascends from the entrance lobby. It runs as a straight flight to the SE angle of the building where it commences an anti-clockwise turn just below first floor level; the SE angle and most of the S and E walls of the castle have collapsed above this level, but it seems likely that the stair continued its ascent spirally in the SE angle and that access to the main first floor chamber was gained via a passage in the almost completely destroyed E wall. The N jamb and lintel of the doorway which led from this passage into the chamber is preserved towards its N end. Just to N of this, in the NE angle of the tower house, are the remains of a small garderobe chamber. Entered by a S facing doorway, only the W jamb and lintel of which survives, the chamber is ceiled by flags resting on the oversail formed by an inward corbelling of the side-walls. It was lit by an ope with splayed ingoings at E, and furnished with a small wall-cupboard at N. The broad garderobe chute discharged through an ope directly below at N; another chute is visible to its rear at first floor level and this presumably served a garderobe in the now inaccessible NE angle of the building at second or third floor level. The main chamber at first floor level measures 6.55m x 5.5m. Its timber floor was carried on wall-plate beams, the ends of which were embedded in the side-walls during construction, supported on rough corbels which project from the N and S walls. It was roofed by an E-W vault, remnants of which survive only at NW, and was lit by windows in the N and W walls. There are two wall-cupboards; the larger in the NW corner and the smaller in the N wall close to the NE corner. The partly blocked N loop is narrow and is set in a lintelled embrasure with widely splayed ingoings; the ope was fitted for a shutter secured by a drawbar. The window at W is of dressed stone and features splayed ingoings; it was fitted with a small slop-stone and a shutter, the drawbar sockets and upper pivot-hole for which survive. This window is set in a large rectangular embrasure ceiled by lintels, which rest on the oversail formed by a slight inward corbelling of the ingoings. A mural passage, lit by a small loop with splayed ingoings, commences in the S ingoing of the W window embrasure and extends to S for 2.45m. Here it was fitted with a doorway which could be secured from its N side; only the lower sections of its projecting jambs are preserved. Through the doorway access was gained to the upper level of the attached turret which measures only 2.9m x 1.4m internally. Its thick walls are reduced to an average of .9m at the level of the first floor of the adjoining tower, but survive no more than .6m high above this. Below this level and reached from it is a chamber within the turret. This is about 5m in depth, the bottom being c. 2m below external ground level. It probably functioned as an oubliette dungeon and was lit by narrow loops set c. 3m above floor level in the S and E walls. The walls of the tower house are reduced in thickness by c. 1m at second floor level. Here, the chamber was accommodated on the now largely collapsed vault, and access was probably gained from a mural passage at E, the remnants of which remain in the NE angle of the E wall. Two windows at N and the remains of a window embrasure in the W wall survive at this level. Only the N ingoing of the latter is preserved; it is splayed and has roughly dressed scontions. The better preserved of the windows at N is fitted with a narrow pointed ope of dressed stone, the jambs of which retain the sinkings for transverse bars. Its li