Power — I'lacc-Namcs and Antiquities of S.E. Cork. 217 



erection, rebuilding, or modification. The castle was destroyed by an acci- 

 dental fire, July 22nd, 1771. It is said that the ravages of the lire could 

 have been easily stayed, but artizans, anticipating repairs, made no effort at 

 salvage, and so the great building was gutted. Decay of the township 

 followed as a result. Within thirty years from the fire not a shrub or tree 

 remained of the once well-kept grounds and beautiful gardens. Of the 

 Barrymores of Castlelyons almost the only one who has left a memory is 

 Earl James, who earned the reputation of an able general in the Peninsular 

 "War (1807-14). Subsequently he fell into disgrace, and lost his command. 

 Returning to Ireland, he tyrannized over his tenantry and retainers, at the 

 same time that he lavished hospitality on his friends. His bust, in white 

 marble, adorns the family mausoleum at Castlelyons. 



Of the ancient parish church of Castlelyons but little survives ; this little, 

 however, is sufficient to indicate that the church was of rather unusual size 

 and architectural importance, in fact, the remains suggest rather a con- 

 ventual than an Irish parochial church. An ivy-clad, square-planned 

 tower, twenty-two feet to the side interiorly, and of which only the north- 

 west angle stands entire, rises to a considerable height. This appears to have 

 marked junction of nave and chancel. Practically nothing remains of the 

 nave, which was 22 feet 6 inches in internal width ; its site is occupied by 

 the present Protestant church. A mausoleum of the Barrymore family, in 

 hideous taste, has been erected on what was the east gable and end of chancel, 

 and it is scarcely uncharitable to assume that the materials of the chancel 

 were used up in erection of the monstrosity. At any rate, both north and 

 south side walls of the chancel have disappeared, though their foundations 

 are traceable. A high, pointed chancel-arch, forming the eastern support of 

 the tower, still stands ; it is 12 feet 6 inches wide, and its walls — indeed 

 all the ground-floor walls of the tower — are 3 feet 10 inches thick. Prom 

 presence of a second similar arch, at right angles to the chancel arch and 

 forming the northern support of the tower, we infer — (I) position of the 

 tower itself, i.e., at junction of nave and chancel; and (2) that the church 

 had either a north transept or a north aisle. The early (apparently four- 

 teenth-century) Gothic window in the east gable of the modern church was, 

 I have little doubt, transferred to its present position from (probably the 

 chancel of) the older church. This handsome window is 48 inches wide, and 

 is divided by two upright mullions into three lights. The well-kepi cemetery, 

 about three-fourths of an acre in extent, and crowded with tombstones, 

 possesses no inscription or monument of special interest — at least, a fairly 

 careful search, made in a downpour of rain, did not reveal anything such. 

 Probably the oldest record is that borne by a standing stone at easl side of 



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