Barryscourt Castle

On a slight rise, in the flat low-lying area of a reclaimed slob (Coleman 1915, 67-8). This large tower house, with three projecting towers, is located at the SW corner of, and partially enclosed by, a bawn wall which has towers at the SE, NE and NW corners. Barryscourt was the Chief seat of the Barrys in their cantred of Olethan (Uí Liatháin)/Barrymore from 1170s (Jefferies 1986). The castle was 'defaced and despoiled' during the Desmond rebellion in 1581 and briefly occupied by Sir Walter Raleigh. David Barry regained possession c. 1583 and undertook substantial improvements; after his death in 1617 Castlelyons Castle (CO045-004---) became chief seat in Barrymore.

The remains consist of a rectangular main block (14m N-S; 11m E-W) with subsidiary projecting towers at the NE (c. 7.5m E-W; 5m N-S) and SW (c. 4m N-S; 4.2m E-W) corners; a 3rd tower projects to the E (c. 2m E-W; c. 3.5m N-S) from the S end of the E wall. The main tower is entered by a pointed-arch door at the N end of the E wall; the doorway appears to be inserted. A small lobby gives access straight through to the main ground-floor chamber and S to a steep mural staircase rising to the SE corner; this gives access to the main 1st-floor chamber and, at the apex, to the main 2nd-floor chamber. At 1st-floor level, on the S wall of the stairway, traces of inserted masonry suggest the former presence of an external entrance door.

The main ground-floor chamber is lit by double-splayed window opes. At the E end of the N wall is a mined entry into a low chamber in the NE tower. The main 1st-floor chamber is covered by a barrel-vault which replaced an earlier pointed vault, part of which survives at the S end; two slit lights in the W wall flank a hooded fireplace. The door at the E end of the N wall leads to a chamber in the NE tower at mezzanine (over the 1st floor) level, a garderobe chamber in the thickness of the W wall of the NE tower, and a chamber over the entrance lobby; there is also a 1st-floor chamber in the NE tower. A door at the S end of the W wall of the main 1st-floor chamber leads through a short passage to a narrow garderobe chamber in the SW tower; a door at the E end of the S wall leads into a chamber in the SE tower.

The main 2nd-floor chamber (c. 12m N-S; c. 6m E-W) is entered through a pointed-arch door at the S end of the E wall. It is lit by 2- and3-light mullioned and transomed windows inserted into wide splayed embrasures, originally with window seats: two each on the W and E walls; one to the S. There is a fireplace in the W wall with a carved surround (Coleman 1915, pl. opp. 63), with a date of 1588; its insertion partially blocked the window embrasure. In the E wall is a narrow mural stair descending to an infilled mural chamber in haunches of the main vault. A door at the E end of the N wall accesses a mural passage leading to a chapel in the NE tower and via stairs to a private chamber. An ogee-headed door at the W end of the S wall of the main 2nd-floor chamber accesses, via a slanted passage, a large garderobe chamber in the SW tower, and the base of a spiral staircase which leads up to two higher chambers in the SW tower. A narrow door with rounded arch at the S end of the W wall leads down sharply into spiral stairs which give access to a small vaulted chamber in the SW tower, beneath the garderobe chamber. Near the E end of the S wall of the hall are descending spiral staircase entered through a ogee-headed doorway. This gives access first through a very low door (H 0.95m) to a chamber in the SE tower, slightly below the level of the hall, lit by a single slit window in the N wall. The stairs descend further to a vaulted L-shaped chamber in the SE tower and thence to a vaulted L-shaped chamber beneath. At the E end of the S wall of the hall, a round-arched door leads into spiral stairs which ascend to a gove entry to two uppermost chambers and a wall walk. Nearly all chambers in corner towers are covered by wicker-centred vaults.

The internal face of the E, N and W bawn walls were partially obscured by and lowered to accommodate 18th/19th-century farm buildings. The S bawn wall (L 24.5m) is heavily reconstructed; a 2-storey 19th century farmhouse, now a coffee-shop, is built against its external face. The original entry to the bawn is through a rebuilt segmental-arched gateway in the S bawn wall. On inspection the SE corner tower (5.4m x 5m) had been recently repaired. The E bawn wall (L 44m) had a recent break near the SE tower. The NE corner tower (c. 5.2m x 5m) has a vaulted chamber lit by slit windows partially blocked to form musket loops. The N bawn wall runs W for 34.5m, then returns N for a short distance (L c. 4m) before running W for a further 10.5m. This latter section is wider and more prominently battered. The NW tower (c. 4.5m N-S; c. 4.0m E-W), flush with the N bawn wall, projects to the W: it contains a chamber with a large garderobe. The W bawn wall (L 32.5m) has two large double-light pointed-arch windows with widely-splayed embrasures and window seats. At the S end of the W wall is a short return E (L c. 7.0m) to the NW corner of the main house. Underlying the W bawn wall and the NW tower, on slightly different alignments, are wall foundations of undressed masonry, indicating the presence of an earlier structure; a similar wall was uncovered near the NE corner of the bawn (Lennon 1988a).

The projecting section of the N bawn wall, NW tower and W bawn wall are all part of an early hall-type structure possibly dating in part to the 13th/14th century, but largely to the 15th century. Otherwise the bawn wall and its corner towers are of 15th century date; the NW and SE towers were refurbished in the 16th century. The tower house is probably originally 15th century in date with a 1st-floor entry but was substantially rebuilt and repaired in the 16th century when the SW corner tower was added and the present entrance inserted. (Monk and Tobin 1991)

Excavations were carried out at Barryscourt Castle between 1992 and 2015 in connection with conservation and restoration works at the castle. They were funded the National Monuments Service, and their results compiled in a monograph published in 2017: David Pollock, Barryscourt Castle, Co. Cork: Archaeology, History and Architecture. Archaeological Monograph Series, 11. Dublin.

This is a National Monument in State Ownership (no. 641).