Ballincollig Castle, Cork

Ballincollig Castle is a historic site located to the south of the town of Ballincollig. The castle was built by the Normans following their invasion of Ireland, and the original keep still stands today, along with most of the curtain wall and two towers. The castle was inhabited by the Barrett family, who controlled the local area and were underlords of the de Cogans and later the MacCarthys and the Earls of Desmond.

The Barretts had travelled to Ireland with the Normans in 1169 and by the 15th century, they had become tenants of the MacCarthys, to whom they paid rent. In the late 1460s, the Barretts purchased Ballincollig Castle outright from Robert Coll, a knight, and improved and extended the castle site. The castle became the principal Barrett stronghold until the early 17th century when the Castlemore Barretts seem to have had control over other areas.

Throughout the castle's history, there were disputes among the Barrett family. In the 1590s, Andrew Barrett and sixty others seized the castle from Edmund Barrett with swords, guns, and other weapons. Edmund eventually won a decree of £100 against the Sheriff of County Cork, who had refused to execute a writ dispossessing Andrew and others who had seized the castle. Edmund also took his cousin to court and a fine was imposed on Andrew and two others, and they were jailed.

Ballincollig Castle was left disused and in ruins for several centuries until the Wyse family repaired the keep in 1857. Today, the castle and its lands remain in private ownership. The main tower house at Ballincollig Castle is recorded in the Archaeological Survey of Ireland's Sites and Monuments Record. The castle's location on a limestone summit provides a line of sight over the low land of the Maglin Valley, and beneath the castle lies a natural cavern which runs into the rock, surrounded by the remains of a moat. The name of the town of Ballincollig likely derives from Sir Robert Coll, the Norman knight who may have built an earlier castle on the site.