106 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



Clonakilty Bay), and from Dun Eoghain (Dunowen) to Grlaisedraigheaeh." 1 

 Fithcheallaigh was its hereditary chief, and Cormaic, Donnamhain, 2 

 Dubhchon, Croinin (Cronin), Nuallain (Nolan), and others were the 

 leaders. It formed part of the grants to Philip de Barri and his brother-in- 

 law, Eobert FitzStephen, about 1180, and is actually named when King John, 

 on November 8th, 1207, confirmed a grant of FitzStephen, the cantreds of 

 Muschere and Dunegan {Dun Eoghain) to William de Barri, son of Philip. 3 It 

 continued to be held by his descendants ; Downeowen was owned by 

 David Lord Barry, Viscount Buttevant, at his death in 1631. 4 The original 

 fort of Dunowen is supposed to be a large earthwork of the low mote type 

 near the village, but the castle of Dunowen probably took over the name of 

 the fort in whose ambit it was built. Windele mentions the cliff castles of 

 Dunowen, Dundeady, Dunworley, Dunuair, and Dungcouhig as left by a king 

 to his son. 6 



The headland had a natural hollow which was deepened into a straight 

 scarped fosse cut through the rock, about 48 feet long, 8 feet deep, and 

 12 feet to 15 feet wide ; the ends abut on precipices and steep grassy slopes. 

 At its east end the rock-angle is revetted with masonry ; there was probably 

 a bridge or drawbridge here ; the pier is 8 feet long, and barely 3 feet deep. 

 The platform is about 12 feet over the fosse; it is fenced by a mortar-built 

 wall, 4 feet thick, with a narrow ope into a passage 5 feet wide and 15 feet 

 deep, with a pier or offset in the middle. The west wall runs along the cliff 

 for 12 feet, and bends parallel to the porch for 21 feet, enclosing an irregular 

 room, 27 feet by 12 feet. Beside this is a small yard hi which my informant 

 Mr. Michael Feen, and one William Donovan, about forty years ago, unearthed 

 a slab, under which was a decayed human skeleton. Feen's grandfather 

 " remembered the castle rising over 40 feet in Bonaparte's time, 100 years 

 ago." A slab and ope like a sink remain in the west wall. The next room 

 southward sets back for 4 feet, whence a wall curves for 16 feet southward 

 to a cross -wall to the south of the court, 27 feet long, with a small gateway, 

 leading to the seaward half of the head. Along the south-east of the yard is 

 another oblong foundation of a house 36 feet by 21 feet inside, its walls 

 3 feet thick. From it a wall with two drains or sewers ran back to the 

 gatehouse, for 18 feet, but has recently fallen down the cliff. 



1 Miscellany Celtic Society, p. 53. 



2 Not the O'Donovans of Ui Cairbre, Aebhdha, Co. Limerick. The O'Donovans, 

 of Mountpellier and O'Donovan's Cove, Lisheen, and the Squince, were of Ui Cairbre. 



3 C. D. I., vol. i, No. 340, Charter Roll, ix John m. 5. 



4 Inquis. Chancery, No. 66, Car. I. 



5 Topography of Cork (ms. R. I. Acad., 12, J. 10), p. 743. 



