School: Clochar na Trócaire, Cill na Mullach (roll number 11855)

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1. Buttevant Castle

   

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   (Bothon Castle), King John's Castle or Castle Barry

   
   To the east of Buttevant stand the ruins of Lord Barry's Castle boldly and strongly erected on a rock over the river Awbeg; the inside of the building forms an octagon and was no inconsiderable fortress, before the art of besieging places was discovered.

   Croker says:- Buttevant castle was the chief residence of the Clan of Donegan, who rejected every offer of the English to surrender it, and repulsed every attempt made to take it, but it was ultimately surprised and captured by De Barry during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The tradition is that the native occupants were betrayed on this occasion by one of their own soldiers. De Barry having made himself master of the place, put its sleeping inmates to the sword and rewarded the perfidy of the betrayer by striking off his head also. The dissevered and ghastly head of the betrayer as it went bounding down the stairs of one of the towers, yelled forth, in a sepulchral and terrible tone - "Treachery", "Treachery", "Treachery". The blood stains are still pointed out, to visitors, on the floor of a cell-like room and on the anniversary (12th July) of the execution the current belief is that the drummer's head, with a chain attached comes tumbling down the back staircase with a ghastly thud and clank as the perpetual memorial of irredeemable treachery. On the ground floor of the old western tower is a prettily shaped circular room, with a deeply-recessed

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Location

   Buttevant, Co. Cork

   Collector

   The Sisters of Mercy

   Address

   Buttevant, Co. Cork