Westropp — Fortified Headlands and Castles in Western Co. Cork. 279 



projection of Leighillaun to the west. There is a ring-fort on the edge of 

 the townland. I do not know which is the actual Dim of Dunkelly ; opinion 

 favours the cliff-fort. 



The place is called Dunnekilly in the " Book of Distribution," 1 as held 

 in part by Gillagh Canty, in 1655; he sold his share to Sir William Petty. 

 Another part, consisting of 15 gneeves, was divided among Donough Canty (6), 

 Donogh m c Owen Canty (3), Donogh m c Mueall-Murry Canty (3), and Donogh 

 m c Gilly Canty (3), which they sold to the same all-absorbing purchaser. 



DUNMANUS AND KNOCKBIEN (0. S. 138). 



These lie along the shore eastward, but can be best visited direct from 

 Schull through a country of Osmunda fern and willows and another ice- 

 scarred defile. 



We pass a high-banked earthen fort, with a fosse and two rings on a green 

 ridge, with a fine view down the bay ; it is probably the fort that gave its 

 name to Dunmanus. The peel tower bearing the name is on a rounded 

 knoll of nearly bare rock, which was once nearly (if not quite) surrounded 

 by water when the tide was high. It is still washed by the tide for over 

 half the circuit. 



The Castle is of the type so common in the peninsula — a peel tower, 

 16 feet 9 inches by 13 feet 10 inches inside, the walls 5 feet 4 inches to 

 6 feet thick. There are two floors and an attic under a pointed vault, 

 turned over wicker ; the stairs (as usual here, but very different from those in 

 counties Kerry, Limerick, Clare, and Galway) begin at the second floor. At 

 the south-east angle is a smaller turret, each face 17 feet 2 inches long. The 

 rest of the main south wall is in a strangely shaken and shattered state, as if 

 struck by lightning or weakened by a drain down it. The top room has ogee- 

 trefoil heads to its two light windows, the only ornamental features, though 

 the masonry is large and good. 



The place has hardly any history ; it is, perhaps, the " Donemarae " 

 (Donemanas) of the second Hardiman Map, circa 1590-1600. During the 

 Spanish war, when Dunboy was stormed in May, 1 602, a Serjeant of the Earl of 

 Thomond with a small party of soldiers swooped up on Down-Manus and carried 

 off sixty-six cows and many garrans. In the following month (June 4th), 

 " Owen O'Sullivan and two of his brothers took by surprise Donmanus 

 Castle, killed four of its guards, and kept it and the prey and spoyle of the 

 town." Captain Harvie took the castles of Donmanies and Leam-con, indeed 



1 loc. cit., p. 259, 



