Last stand by defenders of a Gaelic clan fortress

THE ‘peasant mentality’ of the vandalism at Tara (Letters, April 30) is hardly adequate to describe the destruction proposed by the NRA at Carrigaphooca Castle Demesne near Macroom in Co Cork.

There are two registered national monuments and a protected structure within its demesne and part of the landscape is listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage category on historic gardens and designed landscapes.

Much more importantly, however, is the fact that Carrigaphooca Castle is the symbolic reference point for the Irish Brigades, as Prof John A Murphy has pointed out. It was from this castle that Justin MacCarthy, Lord of Muskerry and Carrigaphooca, led the first Irish brigade to France with troops from the castle’s hinterland.