McCarthy Mor Castle

If Ballinskelligs has a logo, this old stone tower at the west end of the beach would be in it.  Hah - just checked their website - there it is!

I saw a couple of different explanations of its origins on the web, but the most credible suggest it was built by the McCarthy Mor family in the 16th century. They built several in South Kerry to scare off pirates or to collect tariffs. It sounds like Ballycarbery Castle in Cahersiveen, which may appear in a subsequent post, was also built by them.

It was a pretty basic square stone tower with the top half missing - a common decay theme with these things. Since the trip, I've realized that we saw several of these old stone keeps, all in pretty poor condition, but it would have been nice to see one renovated. It's hard for me to picture what they must have been like inside when they were in their prime.