Kanturk Castle – A mans home is his castle
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“A mans home is his castle ..”, so the saying goes. Sadly in this case, it seems Kanturk Castle never became a home. Nevertheless, what did get built was and is impressive. The main structure offers four story, while each tower reaches five story.
Today as you walk around this fine historical building, it’s hard to imagine that it was built in about 1601. Four hundred years later and it is still holding strong. ‘Bualadh bos’ to the stone masons. (Bualadh bos is Irish/Gaelic for applause or praise) Legend has it that seven stone masons all named John that worked on the Castle. Thus at one time the Castle was known as “Carrig-na-Shane-Saor” i.e. The Rock of John the Mason.
There are various opinions on who exactly the castle was built for. Some say it was MacDonogh MacCarthy, while others feel it was Dermot MacOwen. Even the dating of the castle cannot be agreed upon. Generally it is known to be late 16th century early 17th century
Why was it that he never lived in it? Well, there is some more to that saying: ‘ A mans home is his castle …., and that is, ‘until the Queen arrives’. The neighbors of Kanturk Castle were getting a bit worried about the size of this building and to the intentions of it’s purpose. The Privy Council, which were like close advisors to the Queen of England at the time, were informed and ordered the work on the castle to stop. Therefore, ‘ A mans home is his castle until the queen arrives’.
So upset the overlord was , it’s reported that he smashed up the leaded glass and the tiles and threw them into the river.
Down through time after that the property changed hands a number of times. It is now managed by An Taisce – The National Trust for Ireland, since July 14th 2000.
Why not come and see Kanturk Castle for yourself. As you walk around, imagine being in the 15/1600s with the Mac Donagh MacCarthy’s at Kanturk Castle.
Other references to Kanturk Castle: “The story of Kanturk Castle” by Jean J. MacCarthy
An Taisce press release
I first saw reference to this story on a vacation website called http://golfvacationpacks.com . “The story of Kanturk Castle” was very interesting to me and therefore, I followed the links in the article to this page. I live no where near Ireland actually I live in Florida in the USA. I don’t see being able to travel to this location but it sounds like a great place to visit. If I ever get to do some world travels, I will plan on visiting this castle. This was an interesting find and thank you for sharing with us.
Will