Westkopp — Fortified Headlands and Castles in Western Co. Cork. 283 



Dcmehada Mor, who built Dunrnanus (and presumably was the founder of 

 Knockeen), and a fourth son Donall, who built Dunbeacon ; this might be dated 

 about 1460 to 1490, which tallies well with Duumanus, and is not impossible 

 for Dunbeacon, though the tower seems later, but may have been remodelled. 

 "We hear of Finin Mahony receiving Dunbeacon and four townlands from 

 his father, the first Mahony Finn. 1 He was then resident at Cruchan 

 Castle or Crookhaven. 2 Donall, Finin's son, owned Dunbeacon till 1579 ; it 

 possibly was confiscated soon after, about 1584, along with Eossbrin, but its 

 owner survived till 1600. "Donbeken" appears about 1590 on Francis 

 Jobson's map. " Downbekhane " was held in September, 1577, by Teige 

 O'Hengerbye, alias Harrington, who was " fined a cow " and pardoned by the 

 Government. 3 Morogh mac Edmond mac Swyny of Downebeacon gent. 

 Ellen ny Crotty, his wife, and several yeomen were pardoned after the 

 rebellion of James, "the Sugan Earl" of Desmond in 1601. In 1655, 

 Duubecon and Derryfunstone, 1190 acres, belonged to Dermod Carty, alias 

 Clarke, 4 and later on to Colonel Eichard Townsend in 1668. 5 



Doonagh. — Canon John O'ltahony regards Doonagh as the fort from 

 which Dunbeacon is named, but says nothing about the earthwork itself- 

 The Dunadh once evidently defended a longer headland, a deep bank of drift 

 on low rocks and 24 feet high; this has crumbled away even since 1840, when 

 the maps show it projecting nearly its own depth beyond the present edge. The 

 works are, however, still intact, abutting on steep, grassy slopes, covered with 

 vetches, sea-pinks, and campion. It is only the north face that, being nearly 

 perpendicular, presents a bare, yellow, unprotected front exposed to the storm 

 and spray of the fiord. High reefs mark clearly the base of the older head- 

 land. The shore is of sharp parallel ridges of rock, yellow with acorn 

 barnacles and rich in pools starred with red and olive sea-anemones, shells, 

 and dark purple clusters of mussels and sea-urchins. I found an old, narrow 

 path scaling the very steep slope up to the north end of the fosse ; probably, as 

 it touches a little spring, it was the water-path of the fort-dwellers and a 

 means of securing shellfish and fish. 



The earthworks are about 80 feet across ; no trace of an outer ring remains, 

 but there is a depression at its probable site, such as elsewhere marks the 



1 Pedigree, Harleian Mss. 



2 Cruaehau, later Crookhaven, is a good example of a recasting of a name so as to be 

 assonant. The Crook family obtained lands in this part of Co. Cork late in the sixteenth 

 century. The castle has disappeared, and the site is not certainly fixed. 



3 Fiants, Elizabeth, No. 3080, No. 3535. 



4 Book of Distribution, Cork, p. 528. The Down Survey map calls it Dunceacon. 

 5 Act of Settlement Confirmations, anno xx-xxi Car. II, pars 10. f. 15. 



