Desmond Castle Kinsale

Desmond Castle in Kinsale dates from around 1500.

It is a classic urban tower house, consisting of a three-storey keep with storehouses to the rear.

Maurice Bacach Fitzgerald, the earl of Desmond, originally built the castle as the customs house for the town.

It served as a prison in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Because it usually held Frenche inmates, as well as Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch and Americans, it became known locally as the Frenche Prison and carries that name to this day.

The building was co-opted as an ordnance store during the momentous Battle of Kinsale (1601) and served as a workhouse during the Great Famine.