276 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



the line of the winding shore. The low ground inside was tilled, probably 

 during the wars of Xapoleon. 



The Castle thus closely resembles that on the old Head of Kinsale, 

 having a long line of wall from cliff to cliff, a keep, and two turrets. Instead, 

 however, of following the line of the older promontory fort, it cuts across it. 



The Lake is reputed to be infested by a " worm," or peist, with a horse's 

 head, as John Windele notes. He also (like Bolster in 1827) tells of an 

 enchanted woman, or water nymph, there. One Kean Mahony saw her. and (as 

 happened to others before him) died soon afterwards. Our guide, Mike Leary 

 of Dunlough, never heard of the lake being haunted by anything, so the tale 

 is probably forgotten. 1 



The Histoby is very brief. The castle is believed to be the place named 

 in the ancient Annals of Inisfallen often identified with Dunloe — " 1207> 

 the Castle of Dunlochy, was built." as Duald Mac Firbis translates the lost 

 original. Some interpolate "by the English." 2 It was an Mahony Castle, 

 but its history from its remote position is a blank. Conor Finn Mahony, 

 chief in 1496, the son of Coneobar " Cabaicc," gave Dunlogh and eight plough- 

 lands to his fourth brother, Derniot, and died 1513 : the latter succeeded to 

 the chieftainry, after the succession of another brother, Finghin Caol, of 

 Leamcon, already noted. I do not think that the Plea Bolls, Fiants, or 

 Pacata Hibernia name it. It appears on the map of Baptist Boazio as 

 "Donlough," about 1590, but not on the other maps of that period, though 

 it was one of Mahon Finn's chief castles. The Down Survey Map, Xo. Ill, 

 gives " Three Castles Head " ; and the Book of Distribution, about 1655, 

 names "Dunlough" and 1868 acres of unforfeited lands as belonging to 

 the Earl of Cork and Dermod Ccghline. 3 It is called "Downlough" on 

 John Jannsous map, 1661, engraved at Amsterdam. I may lay myself open 

 to criticism, but the " Vision of Mae Conglinne " (the scene of which is laid 

 from Cork monastery to Duneobha chief fort of the Ui Eacach) describes a fort, 

 built of food, but copied from a real dun, wonderfully similar to Dunlough. 

 Omitting the materials with one exception), I note that Mac Conglinne 

 describes the l)uno.rllt with its fortification as beyond a loch. It had a 

 " Cashel," or dry-stone wall, and a door with pillars. It lay near the sea, 

 and had streams and pools. Garden plots, with onions and carrots, and an 

 orchard, lay between the fort and the hill. The sides of the door in the 



1 Bolsters M'igazine, 1827 ; Windele "Topographical MS.,' - R. I. Acad., 12 J. 9 

 (1844; . p. 822. See Cork H. and A. Journal, vol. sv. 1909, p. 192, for views. 

 - The Bodleian Annals end at 1196. 

 3 loc. cit.,p. 259. 



