Ightermurragh Castle

Ightermurragh Castle, County Cork
Photo © Mike Searle, 21 June 2009

This magnificent four storey stronghouse lies at the end of a muddy, puddle strewn track, the reward for the effort to reach it being the impressive sight as one emerges from the trees that surround it.

Note the many gunloops - these are the regular holes in the walls of the first and second storeys. A lintel on a 2nd storey fireplace has a Latin inscription which says that 'Edward Supple and Margaret [Fitz]Gerald, whom love binds as one, built this house in 1642'.

The name Ightermurragh comes from the Gaelic for 'the lower is my choice', which Margaret is supposed to have said to her father when allocating his lands amongst his three daughters. Soon after the house was completed, it was captured and burnt, but was restored in the mid-18c and occupied by a Mr. Smith.