Kilbrittain Castle, Kilbrittain, Co Cork

Bence-Jones, Mark. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London  

p. 164. “(Stawell/LGI1912) A C16 tower-house of the MacCarthys, protected by a turret boawn, incorporated in a C18 house built ante 1750 by Jonas Stawell, which was rebuilt as a castle in mid-C19. Of two storeys over a high basement, and faced in random ashlar; with a battlemented parapet, corner-bartizans and a square tower at one end. Mullioned windows, more of less regularly disposed; pointed entrance doorway opening onto a perron with long twin flights of steps. The castle stands on top of a hill, with wide views over surrounding countryside and down a valley to the sea. The entrance front faces over a bawn, on one side of which there was formerly a less heavily castellated C18 range with a Venetian window. The castle was burnt in early 1920s and stood for nearly half a century as a spectacular ruin; parts of it, including the range with the Venetian window, being demolished. Then, from 1968 onwards, the surviving main building of the castle was restored by Mr Russell Winn.”