DAY NINE: Cork to Mallow

With the highest concentration of Neolithic and Bronze Age megaliths in Ireland, I plan to spend some time in the Cork countryside.

Blarney Castle is not far outside Cork city.

And is exceedingly well-signed.  Looking across The Square.

A Chinese restaurant next to Blarney Castle.

This would be as close as I could get to Blarney Castle.  The tall trees in the gardens surrounding blocked al view.

Thank goodness I can kiss the Virtual Blarney Stone so the trip isn't a complete waste.

An unmapped lake within the castle grounds.

Morning dew at Knockaneeg.

The Grenagh stone circle can be seen just left of centre.

The two white dots in the distance to the right of centre are the Beenalaght standing stones.

Glandine standing stones in the same fields as the cows, just at the fence-line to the left of centre.

The 3 metre high Glandine stones can be seen peaking over the top of the hedge.

The very tip of a Glandine stone.

The top of another stone seen from the road, over the embankment.

A lot of the sites I tried to visit, like this one in Island, Cork, visibility was non existent from the road.

Or high hedges kept stones just out of site.

The GPS says I'm supposed to me looking at a low stone circle in this field at Knockane.

There's something in the centre but I'm not certain if that's the circle.

Looking at a row of six stones from side on at Beenalaght, Cork.

A closer view reveals a thorn next to the row.

Calling it quits, I drove north to Mallow to spend the night.

DAY EIGHT: Cahir to Cork

Leaving the hotel in Cahir, County Tipperary with the castle in the distance.

Cahir Castle (Irish: Caisleán na Cathrach), one of the largest castles in Ireland, is sited on an island in the river Suir. It was built in 1142 by Conor O'Brien, Prince of Thomond.

In 1375, the castle was granted to James Butler, newly-created Earl of Ormond, for his loyalty to Edward III. His son James, the second Earl (by his second marriage) passed the lands around the barony of Iffa and Offa West to his children, though they were not themselves noble. This changed by 1542 when the first of the Barons Cahir was created.

 Unlike their staunchly Anglican kinsmen, this branch of the Butler dynasty sided with the Roman Catholic Irish in the Elizabethan wars. In 1599 the castle was captured after a three day siege by the army of the Earl of Essex and was for a year put under the charge of Sir Charles Blount.

During the Irish Confederate Wars the castle was besieged twice. In 1647 George Mathew, the guardian of the young Lord Cahir, surrendered to Murrough O'Brien, 6th Baron Inchiquin (later 1st Earl, and a descendant of Cahir's builder) following his victory at the battle of Knocknanauss.

WTF? Seems just as good a place to sleep as any.

In 1650 he surrendered again to Oliver Cromwell, during his conquest of Ireland without a shot even being fired.

In 1961 the last Lord Cahir died and the castle reverted to the Irish state.

Cahir Castle was built in the 13th century on a site of an earlier native fortification called a cathair (stone fort), which gave its name to the place. 

Granted to the powerful Butler family in late 14th century, the castle was enlarged and remodelled between the 15th and 17th centuries. It fell into ruin in the late 18th century and was partially restored in the 1840s. The Great Hall was partly rebuilt in 1840. Now a national monument, it is managed by the Office of Public Works.

Heading south towards Cork I came across Glanworth castle and abbey.

A 13th century castle built beside the River Funcheon by the Condon family, Norman settlers who arrived in the Cork area in the twelfth century. The keep and the castle wall remain.The castle is now mainly used as a public walk or a courting area.  Built in the 13th century next to the castle by the Dominican order, the priory was desecrated in the 16th century. The Priorys' gable tracery window, now restored, was once part of the Protestant church, which is located in the Catholic graveyard.

Coming into Castlelyons... is that some sort of megalith in the field?  There's nothing mentioned on any maps.

On the corner of Main Street and Abbey Lane, Castlelyons, County Cork.

Castlelyons Abbey looking down Abbey Lane.

Castlelyons Abbey, Main Street view.

Heading down Abbey Lane.

I might as well take a look at Castlelyons cemetery since it's so well marked.

The older part of the cemetery right next to the River Bride.

The newer part of the cemetery.

First view of Barryscourt Castle, Carrigtwohill, Cork.

The site on which Barryscourt castle now stands has been occupied for over a thousand years- there is evidence of a wooden watermill having been built next to a stream at the site sometime in the 7th century, long before any fortification existed there.