Dunlough Castle

Dunlough Castle, standing atop the cliffs at the northern tip of the Mizen Peninsula, looks at the Atlantic Ocean from the extreme southwest point of Ireland.

As one writer has observed, "To an invading army, the cliff’s edge, the defensive wall, the lake and the sternly inaccessible approach would have made the castle appear impregnable.

[2] At the time the first Norman soldiers and settlers arrived in Ireland in 1169, the O'Mahonys were the declining but still powerful princes of Eóganacht Raithlind, occupying approximately the area from Cork City west to Mizen Head.

[3] Their regional prominence had been diminished greatly since the MacCarthy dynasty had come south from Tipperary in the early 12th century, and faded even more rapidly as the Normans took hold of southern Ireland.

In 1177, King Henry of England granted “the kingdom of Cork” to the Cambro-Norman knights Robert Fitz-Stephen and Milo de Cogan.

Designed to fit its environment, the three keeps and the connecting wall would have been a daunting target for invading armies, though it is unknown if any ever attempted to take the castle.

Typical of "sub-towers" found in larger Norman castles, the central keep provided additional lookout and storage, and served to reinforce the strength of the connecting wall.