Site of Castle Parkanassa

Associated with a moated site (GA083-036001-). This castle is named 'Site of Castle Parknanassa' on the 1838 edition of the OS 6-inch map, which suggests that it had already been demolished by that time. However, the OS Letters (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 332) record 'an arched gateway' here noting that 'the name for it is in the Irish Cloch Aill'. In the OS Name Books of 1839 (No. 5, Oranmore Parish, p. 32) there is a drawing of an apparently mortared stone structure pierced by a round-headed arch with frayed masonry at either end. Its position within the moated site is unclear and no visible surface trace of it survives. This structure had been removed by the time of Lynch Athy's description (1914, 165-6). She recorded that it 'seems as though the walls of the Castle were built along the inside edge of the ditch [but] very few traces of the walls remain - just a few stones'. All that is now discernible is part of the foundations of a stone wall (L c. 2m, H 0.4m), constructed of large blocks, in the SE corner of the interior. This is probably part of the 'walls' referred to by Lynch Athy (ibid.) and they may have been the remains of a bawn wall. Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG Date of upload: 27 November 2018 This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 10/1973).

Site of Castle Parkanassa was likely built in the late medieval period, possibly by a local Gaelic lord or Anglo-Norman settler in the Dunkellin area. Its importance lies in its association with early land control and defensive structures in west Cork, though its specific builders and exact dates remain unclear.