Nestled along the shore is Ballinskelligs Castle, more commonly known as McCarthy Castle. It was allegedly built to protect the bay from pirates and to charge a tariff on incoming trade ships. The castle was originally built on church lands. The church lands of the Parish of Prior had been granted to the church by The Anglo-Irish Lords.

In the 16^th century Henry the VIII set about the dissolution of the monasteries in both England and Ireland. He declared himself king of Ireland in 1541. But his method of dissolution in Ireland differed from that of England. In Ireland, for the most part, this involved making deals with local lords, under which monastic property was granted away in exchange for allegiance to him as the new Irish Crown. In 1585 the lands around St Michael’s Abbey which included Ballinskelligs Castle were leased to John Blake.

After the confiscation of the Earl of Desmond’s estates in the late 16^th century, Richard Harding, a merchant from Bristol, obtained large grants of land in Munster which included Ballinskelligs Castle. Harding’s daughter was to marry Christopher Sigerson, but his daughter died just before the marriage took place. Yet Harding treated Christopher Sigerson as if he were his son in law and 1615 passed the castle on to him, which then became Christopher Sigerson’s manor. This is how the Sigersons came to Ballinskelligs.

During the Cromwellian invasion Christopher Sigerson was uprooted and ordered to Connaught. Sigerson did not admit defeat and succeeded in reclaiming his lands and manor. But this was short lived, as after the Cromwellian invasion, the lands and castle were confiscated and passed on to Sir William Petty.

Petty had a major influence in the development of the fishing industry in Ballinskelligs. It was he who introduced seine boat fishing to the area. He organized that fishermen from Devon and Cornwall, skilled in seine boat fishing, be brought to Ballinskelligs, to fish for pilchard. This fishing method was then adopted by local fishermen. Over the years, the seine boat fishing method was subsequently adopted to fish for mackerel and salmon in the area. It is fitting that one of the last traditional fishing seine boats, The Roving Swan, which was built in Ballinskelligs in 1947, is on display beside our Heritage Centre here in Dungegan.

The Building

From the lay out of the structure, the castle was built originally for defensive and fortification purposes. The building was built of cut sandstone and had probably a thatched roof. It was originally a three-storey structure and the corbels for these floors still exist. The walls are nearly seven feet thick and inside the doorway is a guard’s chamber with a winding staircase to the first floor in the south corner. The stairway does not seem to have gone any further than the second floor, so it is possible that access to the roof was gained by ladder. It also had a toilet which was unusual for this period. The square holes visible on the outside walls were used to hold beams onto which weights were placed in order to extract the oil from the barrels filled with pilchard.

Present State

The history of the castle represents much of the history of the Ballinskelligs area. The building and its setting has acted as an inspiration to numerous photographers and artists and as such has become an iconic feature in profiling the Ballinskelligs area. In its present state Ballinskelligs Castle is in severe danger from sea erosion. To date, State Agencies have declined to take over the maintenance of the castle.