Liscarroll Castle, County Cork

From The Illustrated Dublin Journal, Volume 1, Number 22, February 1, 1862

THE town of Liscarroll is situated in a mountainous part of the county of Cork, and is a very inconsider-able, queer town. In it are the ruins of a very large and strong castle, built, as is generally supposed, by King John, though some attribute it to some of the Strongbowian adventurers.

In the latter end of the month of August, 1642, it was besieged by the Irish army, under Lord Mountgarret, consisting of seven thousand men; and on the second of September, after a siege of thirteen days, it surrendered. However, the very next day, the Earl of Inchiquin came to its relief, attacked the Irish army, and after a very severe contest defeated them, with the loss of fifteen hundred men. It was again taken in 1646, by Lord Castlehaven, with an army of five thousand men.

The Castle is an oblong square, two hundred and forty feet by one hundred and twenty, and was flanked by six great towers, two square and four round, and the walls were thirty feet high. The south entrance was defended by a strong fort, of which very little now remains, as may be seen by the above drawing, which represents the south side.

There are some subterranean passages near the castle, the entrances to which are now entirely filled up. There was, about fifteen years ago, an extraordinary well, or rather hole, in the vicinity of this town, the depth of which was so great, that if a stone were let fall from the brink, it would not be heard to plunge into the water below for sixteen seconds afterwards. This was a local tradition, but we are not aware that it has ever been satisfactorily authenticated.