Cloghan Castle (County Cork)
Ruined O'Driscoll tower house on an island in Lough Hyne.
On Castle Island in Lough Hyne, West Cork, the ruined tower house Cloghan Castle once stood at least three storeys high. The O'Driscoll clan's main stronghold, it was abandoned after Chief Sir Fineen O'Driscoll died there in 1629. Local legend blames its mid-19th century collapse on a ghostly black dog's barking.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Castle Island, Lough Hyne, West Cork, Ireland
- Type
- Tower house
- Original height
- At least three storeys
- External dimensions
- Approximately 8.5 x 11.4 m / 37 ft 5 in
- Internal dimensions
- Approximately 4 x 6 m / 19 ft 8 in
- Clan
- O'Driscoll
- Year of abandonment
- After 1629
Facts from the source article.
Description
Cloghan Castle stands on a mound at the south-east side of Castle Island, within Lough Hyne, a deep sea lough in West Cork. The lough reaches depths of up to 44 m and experiences fierce waters and a large tidal range, while surrounding ground rises to 200 m, offering natural security. The island is low-lying and accessible only by boat. The castle is largely ruined, with some above-ground stonework remaining. It was a square-sided tower house with an enclosure on its eastern side; only the south-western corner of the tower and the north-eastern corner of the enclosure survive. The tower measured about 8.5 by 11.4 m externally and 4 by 6 m internally, with its long axis running east–west. The enclosure was roughly 5.5 m square. The tower was built of rough-hewn blocks of local Old Red Sandstone, small enough to be placed by hand, bonded with a poor-strength mortar applied lavishly. The interior walls may once have been rendered. The entrance does not survive but may have been in the eastern wall, similar to Castle Salem. A single loophole remains in the west wall of the ground floor, likely used for light and air, with a slopstone beneath it. The first floor was supported on timber joists, with sockets for eight joists spanning north–south. At first-floor level, another loophole in the west wall survives but is much robbed. The second floor, possibly the principal chamber, rested on a barrel vault ceiling. The eastern enclosure, built of smaller closely fitted stones with the same mortar, shows superior construction. Its north wall contains the remains of a window larger than the tower's loopholes.
History
The Irish name An Clochán means 'stony place'. The settlement of Baile an Oileain east of the lough may have originated as the sept land associated with the castle. The O'Driscoll family, among the richest in Ireland during the medieval period, owned the castle. By 1629, Sir Fineen O'Driscoll, chief since 1573, moved there after leasing Baltimore Castle to Sir Thomas Crooke. He died at Cloghan Castle shortly afterward, and the castle likely was abandoned then, disappearing from the historic record. Cloghan Castle is probably the one mentioned in the 17th-century Pacata Hibernia as a hotbed of rebellion under Elizabeth I, rather than the castle of the same name at Lissangle belonging to the loyal Coppinger family. The castle collapsed in the mid-19th century; folklore blames the barking of a ghostly black dog, though the poor-quality mortar likely caused the collapse. Folklore also says the castle was home to a legendary king with donkey ears. George Victor Du Noyer drew the remains in February 1853, and W. B. Yeats sketched there in summer 1919.
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