Abandoned building 4: the castle

Nice bright morning, so all chores abandoned and I hit the road for a bit of exploring. There are the remains of at least two castles on the  Sheepshead Peninsula - one I haven't been able to find evidence of but I knew the other had some walls standing. I actually asked permission for this so was able to linger and browse. This is the remains of the o Mahoney castle at Rossmore. It is in the most beautiful situation, low down, right at the sea's edge and facing out into the bay. Originally it would have been a small tower house, heavily fortified and enclosed, dating around the 14th/15thC when there was all sort of ferocious tribal stuff was going on. I have a horrible feeling the English destroyed it. Today only a couple of walls remain, heavily entwined with ivy but it's adjoined and surrounded by lots of small cabins and cottages, probably all constructed from the stones from the castle. This wall obviously once contained an imposing door, or possibly a fireplace, which has been infilled - the little window looks totally out of proportion and doesn't seem to be serving any purpose. It's a lovely place - just me, a donkey and a lot of snipe.

If you are curious to see what it might have originally looked like here's a link Jeremy Iron's castle that he reconstructed, rather controversially, ten years ago.