Mallow Castle

Description

The 33-acre (13 ha) site is composed gardens and parkland on which three buildings sit: the remains of a 16th-century fortified house, a 19th-century mansion to the north, and the ruins of a 13th-century castle to the east. The fortified house is a long rectangular three-storey building, with two polygonal towers on the north-west and south-west corners. It is early Jacobean in style, featuring high gables, stepped battlements, and mullioned windows. The wings of the house project from the centre of the south and north walls, with the entrance in the north wing. The design of the house was to provide a field of fire around it entirely.

The 19th-century baronial mansion has parts which date to the 1690s and is situated near the older ruined Mallow Castle. As a refurbished building it features 8 reception rooms, which include a music room, a billiard room and a library, as well as 12 bedrooms.

History

The fortified house dates from the 16th century and is believed to have been built by Sir Thomas Norreys before his death 1599. Following his death, his niece Elizabeth and her husband Sir John Jephson inherited the house, with their family remaining in Mallow for almost 400 years. It was placed under siege by Richard Butler, Lord Mountgarret, in 1642 during the Irish Confederate Wars and did not fall. It was captured in 1645 by James Tuchet, Lord Castlehaven. The house was badly damaged by fire during the Williamite War and subsequently abandoned by the Jephsons. The Jephsons built the new mansion house on the site of the older castle's stable block.

Current use

The fortified house was made a National Monument in 1928. Commander Maurice Jephson sold the mansion to the McGinn family of Washington, D.C., in 1984. The castle and the grounds have been in the possession of Cork County Council since 2011.