Dunboy Castle

Dunboy Castle, County Cork
Photo © Mike Searle, 8 July 2007

Dunboy Castle, County Cork
Photo © El Gringo, 2 January 2004

This is all that remains of the castle of the O'Sullivan Beare clan whose chief Dermod, built and occupied it in about 1473. Following the defeat at Kinsale in 1601, Donal Cam O'Sullivan set about strengthening the castle defences at Dunboy, he then left to await Spanish reinforcements at Ardea, leaving the castle garrison of only 143 men under the command of Richard Mac Geoghegan.

Dunboy Castle (Caisleán Dhún Baoi) was a stronghold of the O'Sullivan Bere, a Gaelic clan leader and 'Chief of Dunboy'. The castle is located on the Beara Peninsula in south-west Ireland near the town of Castletownbere and was built to guard and defend the harbour of Berehaven. Its presence there enabled O'Sullivan Bere to control the sea fisheries off the Irish coast and collect sizeable taxes from Irish and Continental fishing vessels sheltering in the haven. It was also a centre for the import/export trade to and from the Continent. Today, much of the castle is destroyed but the ruins are open to the public.

Dunboy Castle was the scene of the famous Siege of Dunboy in the summer of 1602 which ultimately led to its destruction and the breaking of the power of the O'Sullivan Bere. At that time Donal Cam O'Sullivan Bere was in rebellion against the English crown and Elizabeth I had sent a 5000 strong army under the command of Sir George Carew to suppress the insurgents. On the morning of 18 June 1602 the English army stormed the ruins slaughtering all before them. Even with its small garrison of 143 men Dunboy Castle was thought to be impregnable but following a fierce artillery bombardment the walls were smashed and after some desperate hand-to-hand fighting amid the rubble the defenders were finally overcome. Twenty men who had surrendered were not spared, and those that tried to flee by jumping into the sea were slashed to death in the water. The few who now remained descended to the cellar to blow themselves up with gunpowder, only to be hacked to death before they could light the fuses. The 58 survivors of the two week siege were executed in the nearby Castletown's (Castletownbeare) market square. History later records the epic long march to Leitrim in the winter of 1603 by Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare and his followers - a direct result of the defeats suffered by the Irish at the hands of Crown forces, at both Kinsale and Dunboy.

Nearby stand the ruins of Puxley's castle. This castle is a nineteenth-century stately home. It was burnt to the ground by the IRA in 1920 in reprisal for the destruction of houses that harboured IRA men and weapons by the Crown Forces.