(Site of) Desmond Castle — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Desmond Castle stood on a steep hill in Tooreen, County Kerry, where the Earl of Desmond reportedly took refuge before his death at Glennaginty. The castle has vanished entirely, leaving only a mossy heap of small stones on a green bench above the little paddock. What remained of its walls, rooms and defences has been erased by time, weather or deliberate destruction. The site endures as a warning about how quickly human ambition can be swallowed by land.

Annotated 'Site of Desmond Castle' on 1841 ed. OS 6-inch map where it is depicted as a circular shaped area shown with a dotted outline. In 1841 the Ordnance Survey recorded the following about this castle site; 'In the Townland of Tooreen in this Parish is pointed out the site of a castle called the Earl’s Castle, but nothing is now to be seen at the place but a heap of small stones overgrown with moss. Tradition says that the Earl of Desmond had taken refuge for some time in this castle before he was killed at Glennaginty which is also in this parish' (O'Donovan 1983, 64-5). The Ordnance Survey Name Books recorded that 'The site of this Castle is placed on the side of a steep hill, on a Green bench or Cavity about two chains (40m) wide and of a semicircular form. The ruin of the Castle is nothing more now than a heap of small stones about 20 feet [6m] in breadth and overgrown with moss. It was built by the Earl of Desmond' (OSNB, parish of Ballymacelligott, No. 2). No surface remains visible of site of Desmond Castle in the townland of Tooreen (An Tuairín/little paddock), parish of Ballymacelligott, barony of Trughanacmy. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 30 May 2022

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