Qualla: Dunlough Castle https://qualla.com/dunlough-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/h/dunlough-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Dunlough Castle https://qualla.com/dunlough-castle Dunlough Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/dunlough-castle/ Photo credit Mike Searle, CC BY-SA 2.0. It is not known if Dunlough was ever attacked. That sentence appears, almost as an afterthought, in the historical record of one of Ireland's oldest castles - and it tells you almost everything. Three towers and a long stone wall sit on an isthmus at the northern tip of the Mizen Peninsula, with cliffs falling 400 feet straight into Dunmanus Bay on one side and a small dark lake pressing up against them on the other. Founded in 1207 by an O'Mahony chief called Donagh, Dunlough was built where it is precisely because nobody could easily get to it. It seems they didn't even try.

Read more: Dunlough Castle on Qualla

Image: Mike Searle | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/h/dunlough-castle-wp/gc1h-dunlough-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Dunlough Castle: Three Castles Head https://qualla.com/dunlough-castle/ Photo credit Ducksie89, CC BY-SA 4.0. The local name for the spot is Three Castle Head, and it tells you what you are looking at. Dunlough is a series of three rectangular drystone keeps strung along a wall that runs more than a hundred feet from the western cliff edge to the eastern lakeshore. The lake itself, appar...

Read more: Dunlough Castle on Qualla

Image: Ducksie89 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/h/dunlough-castle-wp/gc1h-dunlough-castle-three-castles-head.mp3 0:06 2 full Dunlough Castle: The Migrator's Last Refuge https://qualla.com/dunlough-castle/ Photo credit Dunlough, Public domain. To understand why a fortress went up here in 1207, look at the politics of Ireland in the late 12th century. When the first Norman knights crossed the Irish Sea in 1169 at the invitation of one feuding king, they triggered a slow conquest that would reshape the island. The O'Maho...

Read more: Dunlough Castle on Qualla

Image: Dunlough | Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/h/dunlough-castle-wp/gc1h-dunlough-castle-the-migrators-last-refuge.mp3 0:06 3 full Dunlough Castle: Drystone and the Long Slow Crumble https://qualla.com/dunlough-castle/ Photo credit Dunlough, Public domain. Dunlough was built without mortar - drystone masonry, the same technique used in Ireland's ancient ringforts and beehive cells, where stones are fitted so precisely that gravity and friction hold them in place. This was already an old technique in 1207, and it shows in the archit...

Read more: Dunlough Castle on Qualla

Image: Dunlough | Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/h/dunlough-castle-wp/gc1h-dunlough-castle-drystone-and-the-long-slow-crumble.mp3 0:06 4 full Dunlough Castle: Confiscation and After https://qualla.com/dunlough-castle/ Photo credit Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0. The castle's long history with the O'Mahonys ended in 1627, when it was confiscated by the British crown - one small forfeiture in the centuries-long pattern of plantation, displacement, and rebellion that defined Irish history. The towers were abandoned. Without ongoing maintena...

Read more: Dunlough Castle on Qualla

Image: Andreas F. Borchert | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/1/h/dunlough-castle-wp/gc1h-dunlough-castle-confiscation-and-after.mp3 0:06 5 full