Conna
| Conna Irish: Conaithe | |
| County Cork | |
|---|---|
 Conna Castle viewed from the east | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | W925934 |
| Location: | 52°5’34"N, 8°6’36"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 526 (2016) |
| Local Government | |
Conna is a village in County Cork, beside the River Bride, not far from the town of Fermoy. The village contains several pubs, a shop, a post office, a Roman Catholic church and a nearby Church of Ireland chapel. The village is dominated by Conna castle, a five-story tower house standing on a limestone outcrop near the river.
History of the castle
In 1554, the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond, began building Conna Castle on a high limestone rock overlooking the River Bride.[1]
Construction was completed ten years later. The castle and its estate was seized by the Crown after the Desmond Rebellion and passed into the hands of Walter Raleigh. The Desmond heir to the castle, James FitzThomas (The Sugán Earl) staged a rebellion to capture the castle. He failed, was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
The castle then went through a series of different owners before ending up in the hands of the Earl of Cork. It is believed that Oliver Cromwell passed by the castle and fired cannons at it before moving on.[2]
In 1653, the castle suffered a fire in which three of the steward's daughters were killed.[3][4] The castle continued to move from owner to owner until Hilary L’Estrange purchased the castle in 1851. He passed it on to his son, Rev A. G. K. L'Estrange, on whose death in 1915, the castle was passed into the care of the state by his will, the first such property to be so donated.
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Conna) |
References
- ↑ "Conna Castle, County Cork". libraryireland.com. http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/ConnaCastleIDJ/.
- ↑ The Illustrated Dublin Journal. Volume 1, Number 24. 15 February 1862.
- ↑ "Search what is available in Ireland". Ireland.com. http://www.discoverireland.com/us/ireland-things-to-see-and-do/listings/product/?fid=FI_48773.
- ↑ "Conna Castle, County Cork". libraryireland.com. http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/ConnaCastleIDJ/.