Carrignamuck Tower House

Carrignamuck Tower House, located in Carrignamuck townland, is situated 2.8 km north of Coachford village and 2 km north-west of Dripsey village. It is also known as 'Dripsey Castle,' a name more properly attributed to nearby Dripsey Castle, Carrignamuck.

The structure is a tower house, as opposed to a castle, and was one of a chain of MacCarthy of Muskerry tower houses extending westwards beyond Macroom. Tower houses were built during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as residences by Gaelic and Old English families, and though not castles in the strict sense, retained many similar features such as battlements, machicolations and narrow slit windows. Carrignamuck is an L-shaped, five-storey tower, which was repaired in 1866 when a slate roof, fireplaces, and wooden front door were inserted. The entrance is set into the east wall, and the ground floor contains a lobby, main chamber, fireplace, smaller chamber and concrete floor. The first floor contains main, secondary, garderobe and murder-hole chambers, with one of its windows containing a timber frame said to come from the former Church of Ireland parish church at Aghabullogue. The second floor has a main chamber with fireplace, and a garderobe chamber. The third floor contains a main chamber and a smaller chamber. The fourth floor contains a main chamber with fireplace and slate roof, the remains of a smaller chamber, and access to an external wall-walk with no surviving battlements. Adjoining the tower house are terraces, which may be the result of earlier demesne landscaping.

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