Liscarroll Castle Explained

Liscarroll Castle
Location:County Cork, Ireland
Map Type:Ireland
Map Size:300
Coordinates:52.2609°N -8.8033°W
Type:Hiberno-Norman
Built:13th Century
Condition:Partial ruin
Events:Irish Confederate Wars
Embedded:
Embed:yes
Designation2:National Monument of Ireland
Designation2 Offname:Liscarroll Castle
Designation2 Number:333[1]

Liscarroll Castle is a 13th-century Hiberno-Norman fortress in County Cork, Ireland.

In July 1642, at the start of the Irish Confederate Wars, the castle was seized by Irish Confederate forces commanded by Garret Barry.[2] After the subsequent Battle of Liscarroll, the castle was recaptured by British forces commanded by Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin.

The castle is the subject of an 1854 poem by Callaghan Hartstonge Gayner which concludes:

Beneath its folds assemble now, and fight with might and main,
That grand old fight to make our land "A nation once again",
And falter not till alien rule in dark oblivion falls,
We’ll stand as freemen yet, beneath those old Liscarroll walls.[3]
During the Irish War of Independence, the castle was used as a military outpost by a detachment of 17th Lancers. The outpost was abandoned in 1921 after an IRA raid.

The remains of Castle Liscarroll still tower over the village of Liscarroll and the surrounding countryside.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: National Monuments of County Cork in State Care . 4 . heritageireland.ie . National Monument Service . 2 July 2020.
  2. Web site: Liscarroll Castle by H.J. Leask, M.R.I.A. (Inspector of National Monuments) . https://web.archive.org/web/20101222081016/http://www.liscarroll.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=27 . 22 December 2010 . Liscarroll.ie .
  3. Web site: Gayner. Callaghan. The Walls of Liscarroll.