Dunasead Castle

[3] Traditionally associated with the chiefs of clan O'Driscoll, the castle was purchased and restored by members of the McCarthy family in the late 1990s, and partially opened to the public from 2005.

[5] In 1215, an Anglo-Norman settler, FitzStephens, built a tower house with a bawn there, which itself replaced a much older fortification, probably a ringfort.

[6] The O'Driscolls were constantly under pressure from encroachments by Anglo-Norman settlers and rival Gaelic clans on their territory and trade interests, which resulted in the castle being attacked and destroyed numerous times in the following centuries.

[5][8] This feud continued on and off for almost two centuries, ending in the sacking of Dunasead, Baltimore and other O'Driscoll castles by another Waterford fleet in 1537.

This building's defensive features are meagre compared to those of the earlier tower houses in the region;[citation needed] on the ground floor, the windows are narrow slits, and there is a bartizan on the south-west corner.