Day 7 - Kanturk Castle

Kanturk Castle, also known as The Old Court, is situated one mile south of Kanturk town, the capital of the ancient Barony of Duhallow. The Castle was built for MacDonogh MacCarthy, Lord of Duhallow.

The Castle was probably started at the end of the sixteenth century. English settlers on the forfeited lands of the Geraldines objected to the structure as being too fortified for a Gaelic leader. As the battlements were about to be raised, the English Privy Council ordered that work be stopped.

This fulfilled the prophecy of MacAuliffe, as seer and step-brother of MacDonogh, who, according to yet another legend, predicted that the Castle would never be completed, and that it would provide "too fine a home for crows"! MacDonogh MacCarthy, so another legend goes, furious at being prevented from completing his Castle, ordered that the blue ceremic roof tiles be smashed and cast into a nearby stream. The Bluepool stream is reputed to have derived its name from these broken tiles.