Mallow

#149 Mallow Castle
County Cork, Ireland
1596-9
This is NOT an official Lego site

There were undoubtedly at least two castles on the site of this shell of a fortified house, the first built around 1185, to control traffic at a excellent ford in the River Blackwater at Mallow. Virtually nothing is known of the first castle. The second castle, described as containing three courtyards, was built in 1282 by the Desmond Fitzgeralds, and remained in Geraldine hands until the Desmond uprisings against England in the late 16th century. In 1581 when Sir John Desmond was dismembered and hung at the gates of Cork City, the castle was called "the ruinous house of Mallow".

Queen Elizabeth granted the old Desmond fortress to Sir John Norreys, son of her life-long friend Lord Norreys of Rycote in 1584. When he died in 1587 the property passed to his brother Sir Thomas, Lord President of Munster. He built the "goodly strong and sumptuous house" upon the ruins of the older castle from 1596-9. The castle was three-stories with an attic floor, and had hexagonal turrets at two corners and protruding entrance and main stair towers in the middle of both sides of the oblong main block. The house bristled with gun ports and there was a cellar under the middle of the main block.

Sir Thomas' daughter Elizabeth, Godchild and namesake of the Queen, married Sir John Jephson. They had four sons and four daughters, and several stories are told about Jephson's "love of pleasure [being] greater than his fortune." The castle withstood a Royalist assault in 1642, but fell to Lord Castlehaven in the 1645. The Parliamentarians recovered it in 1646. Mallow was burnt by order of King James II in 1689, and a plan for restoration in 1829 was abandoned. A portion of the east wall collapsed in 1836. The ruin was made a National Monument in 1928 and the castle was sold by Commander Maurice Jephson. It was purchased by the McGinn family of Washington, D.C. in 1984, but recently bought by the Cork County Council.

Photos of the Lego Model under construction in October-November, 2015

Construction begins on October 3 while residents of Maxstoke ponder the happenings across their moat!	The ground floor is pretty well completed on the first day	The lower level does not feature gunports.	The windows on the first floor are larger, more complex and have exterior gunports.


The first view of the courtyard side features the kitchen on the left.	On November 3 the second floor is complete...	and the fortified house is ready to roof!	The completed model will be below when finished!

Photos of the Lego Model Completed November 10, 2015

The view from the north begins our tour - with the main exterior entrance.	The north tower and large windows are high- lighted from the NE.	The bawn wall, originally some 120' on each side, is notable from the east.	The SE view details the main stair tower, which also contained the toilets & the only pair of gunports within the courtyard.

From the SSE the corner location of the house within the bawn can be appreciated.	The castle's kitchen was located at the SW end of the house.	The kitchen and the other end of the curtain wall.	This is really an interesting structure with its jutting wings and hexagonal turrets.


The view of the kitchen and its fireplace.	The interior view looking north


An etching of the castle from the east				A ground floor plan of the castle				The front elevation


From the front, the numerous gunports are of particular note.	The roof and parapets were really fun to build.


Lego Plan	Northwest Elevation