Ballincollig Castle

Castle in Cork

Ballincollig Castle Cork
CC BY-SA 3.0 / Brendandiamond

Ballincollig Castle, situated south of the town of Ballincollig, is a historic site built by the Normans following their invasion of Ireland. The original keep still stands today, along with most of the curtain wall and two towers. The castle was inhabited by the Barrett family, who controlled the local area as underlords of the de Cogans, later the MacCarthys, and the Earls of Desmond.

The Barretts arrived in Ireland with the Normans in 1169 and by the 15th century had become tenants of the MacCarthys, to whom they paid rent. In the late 1460s, the Barretts purchased Ballincollig Castle outright from Robert Coll, a knight, and subsequently improved and extended the castle site. The castle remained the principal Barrett stronghold until the early 17th century when the Castlemore Barretts expanded their control to other areas.

Throughout its history, Ballincollig Castle witnessed disputes within the Barrett family. In the 1590s, Andrew Barrett and sixty others seized the castle from Edmund Barrett using swords, guns, and other weapons. Edmund eventually secured a decree of £100 against the Sheriff of County Cork, who had refused to execute a writ to dispossess Andrew and his supporters. Edmund also took his cousin to court, resulting in fines and imprisonment for Andrew and two others.

Ballincollig Castle fell into disuse and ruin for several centuries until the Wyse family repaired the keep in 1857. Today, the castle and its lands remain in private ownership. The main tower house at Ballincollig Castle is recorded in the Archaeological Survey of Ireland’s Sites and Monuments Record. The castle’s location on a limestone summit offers a vantage point over the low land of the Maglin Valley. Beneath the castle lies a natural cavern running into the rock, surrounded by the remnants of a moat. The name of the town of Ballincollig likely derives from Sir Robert Coll, the Norman knight who may have built an earlier castle on the site.

The Ballincollig Castle appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Cork!

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Visiting Ballincollig Castle

Hours:

Private no access


Address: Ballincollig Castle(Caisleán Bhaile an Chollaigh), Ballincollig, Cork, Ireland
Duration: 20 minutes

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