BLARNEY CASTLE
From Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland (1900)
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BLARNEY CASTLE.—There is, perhaps, no ruin in Ireland that has acquired such worldwide celebrity as Blarney Castle from the legend ascribing to it the power of endowing any one who kisses a certain stone of the structure with an irresistible faculty of persuasion, and which Milikin, Father Prout and others have popularized. Milikin's "Groves of Blarney" was written in ridicule of the high-sounding, nonsensical verses of some of the village poets of his time. Blarney Castle stands in the village of that name, and is about six miles from Cork. It was built by Cormac MacCarthy "The Strong," A.D. 1449, and was the stronghold of the chieftains of that sept. All that remains now is the donjon keep, 120 feet in height; and the walls, 18 feet in thickness, add to its great strength. The inner courtyard was 8 acres in extent. The castle sustained may sieges and attacks in the Anglo-Irish wars. The process of kissing the Blarney stone is a somewhat perilous venture, and few tourists care to risk it.
Blarney Castle
Description of County Cork | Shandon Church | Queenstown Cathedral | Blarney Castle | Cloyne Cathedral | View of Queenstown | Glengariff Castle | Patrick's Bridge | The Mall | The Square, Fermoy | Cork Map