The only fortified tower house built on an island in a river

Carrigadrohid Castle is a rare example of a 15th-century fortified tower house due to the fact that it is built on a small island in the middle of the River Lee. It was built by Cormac MacCarthy who reputedly lived here with his wife Sabiha O’Carroll. This amazing feat of medieval engineering could not, however, hold up to the forces of Cromwell two hundred years later. The castle was besieged in 1650 following the Battle of Macroom by the Parliamentary forces after which the MacCarthys were dispossessed of all their property. The Bishop of Ross was hanged by the reins of his own horse outside the castle having refused to implore the Irish garrison to surrender to the Cromwellian army. The castle was soon after granted to the Bowen family who abandoned the castle in the mid-1850s having built a new manor house at nearby Oakgrove. It fell into disrepair but has recently been preserved by a local conservation group.